


Mystery Lover

by em13x



Series: Six Feet Under (SHINee/BTS/VIXX Vampire AU) [1]
Category: SHINee, VIXX, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Convenience Store, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Blood, Choking, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Smut, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kim Wonshik | Ravi is a good friend, M/M, Might change, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Polyamory, Robbery, Romance, Smut, Stalking?, Taemin-centric, Vampire!Minho, Vampire!Onew, Violence, best friend!wonsik, brothers! Jaehwan and Taemin, cant forget the good stuff ;;;;), human!jimin, human!taemin, human!wonsik, i think i know where this is going, internet friend!Jimin, just let me write about the groups i love okay, long hair!taemin, medium burn?, ot5 is everything, vampire!AU, vampire!Key, vampire!jonghyun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2018-12-23 07:27:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11985066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/em13x/pseuds/em13x
Summary: Lee Taemin wasn't supposed to end up like this; anybody could tell you that.The first book in a multi-fandom vampire!auFirst book: SHINee-centricSecond book: BTS-centricThird book: VIXX-centric





	1. Pretty Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys~ This is my first chaptered fic on AO3 :O I'm excited! Hope you are too~~  
> I think the tags pretty much speak for themselves, i'll update as i go!  
> Expect: romance, fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, cute boys, OT5, and kinky shit lmao  
> (omg i hate myself lmfao oh well i'm going to hell; who tf is with me)  
> XXX  
> Please bookmark/comment/leave a kudos if you like this chapter! It'll motivate me to write more <3  
> I'll try to update weekly (TRY)~ will most likely be on a Sunday.  
> SNS links can be found at the bottom if you want to talk/follow me on those <3

**Chatper 1 - Pretty Boy**

_"They say pretty boys are always like this._

_They say pretty boys just follow along the flow of things._

_But I'm above the imaginations in your head."_

_Pretty Boy, Taemin ft. Kai 2014_

The seconds dragged along ever so slowly, the minutes on the digital clock taking a small eternity to change to the next. The graveyard shift always sucked, Taemin supposed, as he sat behind the convenience store counter with his head propped up on his palms. A long stray strand of hair fell into his eyes, and he blew it up and out of the way, boredom overtaking his senses. The brightly coloured artificialness of the store appeared dull to his tired eyes; aisles upon aisles of junk food stared back at him, and he blanched at the sight. Tearing his eyes away, the flickering of the white lights above distracting him from his surroundings.  
Taemin found that there were only a few types of people that wandered into a rundown convenience store on the wrong side of town between the hours of 9pm and 3am: the stoners, the drunks, the odd student, and the occasional night shift worker. The drunks were the worst, and Taemin sighed inwardly as one person of that very description stumbled into the store, almost falling on their face as they tripped over the tattered welcome mat. As they walked to the back of the store where the alcohol was stored, Taemin just shook his head, tucking back the hair that fell out of his ponytail behind his ear. He felt around in his pocket, grimacing when he came up with nothing but old tissues. He'd have to buy another pack of bobby pins when he was on his break: apart from water, they were the only thing he’d dare to buy in this shithole. Dragging his eyes around the small interior, he made a mental note to dust later on tonight, before something outside caught his attention.  
Only just illuminated by the artificial store light, Taemin could the silhouette of a man standing across the street. While he couldn’t make out any of the man’s features, he seemed to have some sort of hat on with a wide brim (his mind helpfully supplied him with the term ‘hipster hat’) and while that usually wouldn’t be out of place in Seoul, it was here. Taemin couldn’t help but wonder why someone with money, apart from a gang member, would hang around where he lived… unless he was a gang member-  
The sound of metal cans smacking against the counter startled Taemin out of his overactive imagination, and his eyes snapped to the drunk customer leaning over the counter in front of him. Taemin tried to hide his look of disgust at the man's unruly, unhygienic appearance and instead just gave him a half-assed smile and a small "Good evening," before he started scanning the cans of beer and bottles of soju. With his head tilted downwards, some of the hair he'd just pushed back fell into his face again. He could feel the lingering gaze of the man's eyes on his head, and Taemin's cheeks burned as he finished scanning and rang up the man's order. The cash register opened and taemin quickly glanced in it, seeing only a few crumpled bills. He started reading out the total, but before he could react the drunk man's hand grabbed his chin roughly, pulling it up and towards him so he could stare at Taemin.  
"Y'know, you're pretty for a boy," he slurred, rubbing his thumb over Taemin's cheek while his other hand reached up to pull a handful of strands of Taemin's hair. Taemin shuddered, trying to step backwards, but the man yanked on his hair, and he winced as he felt a few of the strands being ripped out. In the background, he could faintly hear the door to the store open, but the thought went out of his head almost immediately; it was probably another drunk person anyway.  
The drunk slapped his cheek, and Taemin's attention turned back to the man. He could smell the harsh alcohol on his breath and cringed away, heart beating out his chest. He could feel himself become light-headed with panic, and his breathing became more erratic. Before he could do anything, the man’s hand went from his cheek to his neck, lifting him up slightly from across the counter. Taemin let out a strangled noise, eyes wide with fear, and the drunk man just laughed at him before pressing a harsh, wet kiss against Taemin’s lips.  
Taemin shuddered, nails scratching at the man’s hand to make him let go of his neck. That only succeeded in annoying him, the drunk pulling on Taemin’s hair harder. Taemin winced in pain, and as he felt himself on the brink of consciousness, he bit down on the man’s lip.  
The man swore, pushing Taemin away harshly. Taemin fell against the wall behind the counter, banging his head loudly against the wall. “Fuck,” Taemin exclaimed, woozily bringing a hand up to touch his head, simply staring when it came back with blood smearing the tips of his fingers. Drowsily, he turned his attention back to the man, who had blood running down his chin.  
“Fuck you!” The drunk man shouted, spitting at Taemin, before grabbing his alcohol without paying. Taemin sighed. He’s right - I’m so fucked, Taemin thought. The last thing he saw as he faded into the static of unconsciousness was a figure approaching him from the other end of the store.

XXX

When Taemin woke up, it took him a minute to compose himself before he remembered what had happened. Drunk guy. Violence. Blood. Okay, he thought to himself. He was seated at the counter, staring back at the same artificial food as he was previously. Taemin looked towards the clock on the other side of the small store - 2:56am. His coworker would be here soon to relieve him for the night, thank God. He lifted a tired hand towards his head, expecting it to come back with flakes of dried blood, but it had nothing on it. Confused, he probed his scalp and forehead for any sign of damage, but there was none.  
“What the fuck?” Taemin whispered to himself, rubbing his eyes vigorously, and that’s when the store door opened.  
Taemin flinched, but was met with booming laughter. His shoulders dropped and relaxed as he turned to meet Wonsik, his friend and coworker. “Dude, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Wonsik laughed as he ran a hand through his light blue hair. It stuck up in all directions, and Taemin couldn’t tell if it was hot or an eyesore. Wonsik had gotten into so much trouble with the manager for that, but their manager couldn’t make him change it; Wonsik was just a large, loveable puppy that everyone had a hard time saying no to.  
Shaking his head, Taemin shrugged helplessly. “Something like that,” he agreed. “Hey, can you go check the beer in the back? I think I might’ve missed a couple when I was stocking up,”  
“Sure thing, Taeminnie,” Wonsik grinned. Taemin tried to calm his pounding heart, still tripped out from not finding any blood. There was no explanation for it, was there? Unless he had dreamed it- “Yeah, looks like you missed a couple! 3 cans of beer, and… 2 of soju?”  
Taemin swallowed. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, he told himself, trying to not freak out. He checked the cash register - he’d only cleaned it out about an hour before the drunk man had come in, meaning there hadn’t been much in it - but sure enough, there was the right amount of won needed to pay for exactly 3 cans of bear and 2 bottles of soju.  
“What the fuck…” he mumbled to himself, before stepping out from behind the cash register. It was at that moment that Wonsik came down the aisle, looking at Taemin funnily. “You okay, dude? You should go home, you look exhausted,”  
Taemin just nodded, handing the store uniform vest over to his taller friend, grasping his hand for a couple of seconds before pulling away to grab his jacket and earbuds from the back room. “See you later,” he mumbled in Wonsik’s direction, sending him a faint smile before exiting the store.  
Taemin’s stomach growled as he walked, and he ignored it, picking up the pace as the cold air whipped around his ears, turning them red. It was only when he was almost home that he remembered the strange figure with the wide brimmed hat, and the figure walking towards him as he passed out.


	2. Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!  
> I finally updated lol. Next update coming soon.  
> sorry in advance for the filler chapter, I just had to kinda explain some of the relationships and dynamics in this chapter.  
> Also sorry for the lack of OT5 SHINee - a member will make an appearance in the next chapter tho ;)  
> 

**Chapter 2 - Rescue**

_"It's hard to say with words_

_these emotions are whirling around_

_losing all my control."_

_Rescue, SHINee 2016_

 

When Taemin arrived home he collapsed onto his old couch, grimacing slightly as the familiar spring poked into his back like it always did. The clock above the small tv told it was 3:30; 3 hours before his younger brother would wake up. Sighing, Taemin ran a hand through his hair before settling down and shifting to make himself more comfortable. He closed his eyes but his mind was still running a million miles an hour, caught up and confused over the events of the past few hours. Grimacing, he rolled over, pushing his face into the old couch cushion to try and relax more. His hair was caught in his mouth and his eyes, but at that moment he didn’t care. Taemin sighed, before sleep finally enveloped him.

 

XXX

 

“You can’t be fucking serious, Jjong,” The man sighed, pinching his nose between his fingers as he screwed his eyes shut in annoyance. “He’s a human. A _human_!”

The second man looked at the ground sheepishly, before looking back up at the first man with a renewed vigour in his eyes. “But he was being assaulted-”

“Hyung,” a third voice interrupted him. “It doesn’t even matter. He’s a _human_. Things wouldn’t work out anyway, even if you wanted them to!”

The second man cursed under his breath, body frozen still, hands clenched into fists. “If you had seen the things I saw-” he started, but was cut off by a fourth voice.

“Enough.” The tone and imperative command didn’t seem to go together. “Jonghyun, we’re not going through this again, not after last time.”

The second man, Jonghyun, took a step forward, his glare melting into a pleading look. “Hyung, please. Just see him once,” he begged.

The last man’s eyes softened. He sighed, relaxing, and rested a hand on the top of Jonghyun’s head, ruffling his hair. Jonghyun scowled and pulled away while the man just smirked. He nodded. “Once,”

 

XXX

 

“...Minnie~” The familiar voice rang in his ear, and there was a weight covering Taemin’s entire body. He groaned, snuggling further into the couch cushion. “Taeminnie hyung~” the pestering voice sang in his ear, but he ignored it, lifting a hand to wave the offender away. The other voice harrumphed, and the weight left his body. Taemin smiled.

The next second his eyes shot open as an ear-splitting scream pierced the quietness of the small living room. “Fuck!” he grumbled, his hands clamping over his ears to protect them from his precious dongsaeng’s screeching. “Jaehwan-ah!”

The screaming cut off, and was replaced by Jaehwan giggling. “I only wanted to say bye before I left to go to school,” he explained, wrapping his shorter older brother into a back hug. Taemin grimaced, trying to push him off, but Jaehwan wouldn’t budge.

“Lee Jaehwan!” he tried.

“Lee Taemin!” Jaehwan fired back.

“Aish,” Taemin sighed, batting the younger in the face, before wrapping an arm around Jaehwan’s neck and messing up his hair with his other hand.

Jaehwan squawked, swearing, as he tried to pull himself out of his hyung’s hold. “Not the hair, Taemin, no- I just- stOP IT-”

Taemin laughed, releasing Jaehwan, and the younger stumbled back, falling onto his ass on the ground. He pouted, full lips making him look like a baby, and Taemin’s heart melted just a little bit on the inside. “Aigoo, Jaehwannie~” Taemin drawled sarcastically, and Jaehwan just responded by crossing his arms and glaring grumpily. The stare-off lasted for only about ten seconds before Jaehwan cracked, laughing as he rocked onto his back. Taemin just sighed in exasperation, but a fond smile made its way onto his face. “Get to school, Jae,”

Lee Jaehwan and Lee Taemin had an odd relationship to say the least. Half-brothers with the same father who abandoned them both, 19 year old Taemin did his best to provide for Jaehwan, even though their situation was exceedingly dire. Giving up his dream to study dance at university, Taemin instead worked shitty hours at the convenience store twenty minutes from their equally shitty apartment; all so he could afford to actually put food on the table (even though it was mostly almost-expired, discounted crap), keep the cracking roof from completely collapsing on top of both their heads, and keep paying for Jaehwan’s tuition. He was only 17 after all, and had his whole life ahead of him; Taemin’s love for his younger brother was what kept him going, honestly, and if Jaehwan could chase his dreams, then Taemin was more than happy to sacrifice his own.

Jaehwan stuck his tongue out at his hyung, shaking his head cutely, before grabbing his bag and slipping his ratty shoes on beside the door. “See you later, Taeminnie-hyung,” he grinned, and his wide smile lifted up Taemin’s heart. As he shut the door behind him, he didn’t see the content grin on the elder’s face; likewise, Taemin never got to see how the smile immediately slipped from Jaehwan’s mask.

Taemin and Jaehwan were similar - and at the same time, they were complete opposites. They were both terrified of bugs, and both took great pride in applying make-up and styling their hair with the ease of professionals. Both were generally quiet around strangers, but louder once you got to know them. And yet Taemin was clumsy and sometimes awkward; no matter what Jaehwan did, he did it with grace. Where Jaehwan liked to be crack jokes all the time and do cringey aegyo, Taemin just sat back and watched. Jaehwan loved anime, but Taemin preferred melodramas that he could fall asleep to. But the most similar thing between them was their love for music: for Jaehwan, singing was his whole life, and Taemin couldn’t live without dancing. They were clearly brothers, but still so different. And it was the little things that Jaehwan did, like singing at the top of his lungs in the shower that often went too cold too quick, that made Taemin feel like he was doing the right thing.

Still exhausted, he flopped back onto the couch, pushing his hair out of his eyes. Wonsik always grumbled about how Taemin should cut it because it looked annoying, but deep down he knew his same-aged friend actually liked it. Speaking of, he looked down at his cracked phone that was lying on the ground, opening up his messages and seeing he had a couple of missed messages from Wonsik, showing concern for his health.

Taemin shook his head, hoping his good friend’s concern was sated with a simple emoji. He knew somewhere in his mind that it probably wouldn’t though.

So he sighed, snuggling into the couch cushion, and drifted asleep as his mind subconsciously counted down the awful hours until he had to go back to work.

 

XXX

 

As soon as Jaehwan closed the door behind him, his smile faltered, ultimately leaving his face. He sighed deeply and shakily as he trudged down the cold concrete steps that lead to the ground floor of the apartment building, the temperature seeping into his bones. Freezing. Numb.

Jaehwan liked feeling numb, if he was honest.

He ran a hand over his tired face before shoving his earphones in. Only the left one actually worked, but he didn’t want to tell Taemin - that would just be one more thing to add to the ever-growing list of expenses that Jaehwan knew his brother couldn’t really afford. Besides, having both earphones in meant people left him alone, and Jaehwan liked it that way.

The weight he had on his shoulders was burdensome; not just his backpack, full of useless books which held words that swam together in Jaehwan’s eyes, not making sense; but the sacrifices his hyung had made for him, as well as the expectations he placed upon himself. Jaehwan _knew_ it was because of him that Taemin gave up his dreams of going to university for dance, and the fact crushed him, physically and emotionally. Ever since the first day Taemin had to leave to go to his shitty job, Jaehwan had promised himself that he would never give up: that’d he’d make his hyung proud, that his hyung would be able to have a break, that his hyung could just dance-

Jaehwan could already feel the tears swimming in his eyes, but the tinney beeping of his cellphone tugged him out of his usual downward spiral.

Jaehwan shook his head, amused slightly, at the message from his friend. He could already feel his mood shifting from depressed to his usual snarky yet aegyo-full self.

 

Jaehwan tucked his phone in his back pocket as he continued walking, pulling his sweatshirt sleeves over his hands to protect them from the cold. Chimchim - aka the best internet friend anyone could ask for, Park Jimin - always made his day a bit better. As if fate agreed with him, the sun peeked out from behind the canopy of clouds, bathing Jaehwan in a golden glow. A smile graced his face. Perhaps today wouldn’t be as bad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
> ig https://www.instagram.com/em13.x
> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
> Please leave a kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe if you want to read more! It helps me update faster.


	3. Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherever Taemin goes, trouble seems to find him.
> 
> Kibum goes with Jonghyun to scope out the human he's crushing on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really thought hard about whether to continue this fic or not, due to Jonghyun's death. Wow, even that sentence was hard to write. But while writing this today, it was really cathartic. I hope his memory is honoured by this. I love you to the moon and back, Jjong. Once a Shawol and Blinger, always a Shawol and Blinger. I love you more than words can describe. I hope you're at peace.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING!!! Violence, abuse, homophobia, derogatory slurs, blood. This section is marked with **. Please read at your own risk. If you want a short summary but don't want to read that part, let me know in the comments and we can talk :)
> 
> For now, enjoy!

**Chapter 3 - Danger**

_"I appear like wind,_

_I disappear like smoke tricking your eyes._

_I approach like a petal,_

_I burrow like a thorn aiming at your heart."_

_Danger, Taemin 2014_

 

To be honest, Taemin was hoping for a quiet night at the convenience store; once again, his wishes went unanswered. Throughout his shift, he was dead tired. The light reflecting off the bright artificial packets glared in his eyes, and Taemin rubbed them constantly. He could practically feel them becoming puffy, and he sighed in exasperation: he’d left his makeup at home.

To make everything worse, it was Wonsik’s day off, meaning that the usual stupid banter he usually looked forward to at the end of his shift wouldn’t be taking place.

Taemin adjusted the cap he’d placed on his head, tucking his hair up in it so he hopefully wouldn’t attract anymore unwanted attention. Or just any attention at all, really; it’s not like he could literally afford to have a relationship with anyone anyway. Taking care of Jaehwan was more important than anything to him. Speaking of his cringey, aegyo-loving dongsaeng, Jaehwan hadn’t stopped texting him since he got home from school. Since he was often late after school with his theatre club activities and practices, not getting home until about 8pm, he and Taemin usually just missed each other, with Taemin’s shifts usually starting at 7.30pm. Truth be told, while Taemin did tease Jaehwan a lot, he really missed hanging out with him as much as they used to, before life dropped them into the unluckiest trash can that existed.

And as any hyung should (biological or not), Taemin did worry a lot about Jaehwan. The younger had seemed a little distant lately; while he looked fine and chipper and incredibly dorky on the outside, Taemin could see through all that, could see the glaze that fell over his eyes at times. But because Jaehwan hadn’t said anything was wrong, Taemin didn’t ask. While he loved his brother more than anything, he didn’t want to corner him, to scare him into something he wasn’t ready to admit. Taemin was devoted to making sure Jaehwan never experienced anything like he did…

 

**

 

_“What the fuCK IS THIS??!” his father screamed at 16 year old Taemin, pointing an angry, crooked finger at the open laptop. Taemin swallowed, tears furiously pooling in his eyes. He knew it was a mistake; why the HELL did he decide to watch porn when his father was home? “WHEN THE HELL DID YOU BECOME A FUCKING FAG?!” He gripped Taemin hair in his hand, pulling harshly. Taemin gasped, tears spilling down his cheeks._

_“Dad-” he started, but was met with a harsh punch in the eye. His vision faltered, and all he could see was red and black as his knees buckled and he fell to the ground._

_“I’M NOT ANY FUCKING HOMO’S DAD, YOU FREAK!” his father spat, sending a kick to Taemin’s stomach. Taemin cried out, curling into a ball to protect himself, before more kicks started to rain down on him._

_“DON’T. YOU. EVER. COME. BACK. HOME!” Each word punctuated by even more violence, but Taemin didn’t feel angry, All he felt was a world of pain, and as he curled into himself more, he felt his consciousness shrink. “FUCKING DISGUSTING FAGGOT...WORTHLESS!” The verbal abuse somehow made more of an impact, and as the words fell into Taemin’s ears, they simultaneously engraved themselves on his heart. Crushed, physically and mentally, he just took it. He could already feel the throbbing bruises painting his skin a tragic masterpiece, could feel blood running down his torso and leaking out the side of his mouth. But it wasn’t until the next instant that his world really crumbled around him._

_“A..appa? Minnie?”_

_Taemin’s blood ran cold. Jaehwan._

_“FUCK OFF, YOU FUCKING MISTAKE! CAN’T YOU SEE I’M BUSY TEACHING YOUR DISGUSTING HYUNG A LESSON?!” Their father screamed, and Taemin looked up to see Jaehwan just out of reach standing in the doorway, eyes open wide in shock and tears silently sliding down his face. Taemin wished he would just walk away._

_“N-no, stop! You’re hurting him!”  Taemin’s heart sunk as the words left Jaehwan’s mouth. Their father didn’t react to that nicely, delivering one last kick to Taemin’s ribs before stalking over to the younger boy. Jaehwan shrunk back, and Taemin could only watch on in horror as the man gripped Jaehwan by the neck, strangling him before holding him up against the wall, his feet dangling several inches off the ground. Jaehwan struggled, his pale face quickly turning red, getting darker by the second. Their father released one hand, tugging Jaehwan’s head upwards by gripping his hair and pulling. Jaehwan choked, eyes wide in terror, tears frozen in their tracks._

_All Taemin could do was feel hands around his own neck as he watched on in horror---_

 

_**_

\--and was snapped out of his flashback by real hands around his neck, a gun pressed to his temple. _Fuck_.

 

XXX

 

“...and this is where you saw him?” Kibum asked. Disgust clearly showed on his face as he took in the rundown building, the artificial light emanating from it dying his pale skin hues of yellow and green. He snorted. “It looks like a group of cute forest animals vomited rainbows all over it and then abandoned the place for twenty years.”

“Kibum,” Jonghyun sighed in exasperation. He wrung his hands together, a nervous habit that he’d picked up quite a while ago, as he stared at the convenience store in question.

“Okay, okay! Don’t bite me,” the younger laughed, and Jonghyun just replied by flashing a toothy grimace. Kibum rolled his eyes. “How do you even know if he’s working tonight? Didn’t you only see him for the first time last night?”

“Yeah, about that…” Jonghyun started sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck just to give his cold hands something to do. Kibum raised an eyebrow, and after taking in the elder’s expression, rolled his eyes once again.

“Seriously? How fucking old are you, Jjong?”

“1,067.” he replied seriously, eyes wide and innocent.

Kibum scoffed. “As if I didn’t know that already. How long have you been stalking him for?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it stalking, exactly,” Jonghyun started, wincing a little as he noticed how bad that sounded it. “But it doesn’t matter. He’s so cute, Bummie! He looks like a wee angel,” he swooned.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Kibum stated. While the pair were still a block or so away from the store, they could both make out the most minute details of it clearly; however their teasing and joking stopped the second the heard the unmistakable sound of a gun’s safety being flicked off, the sound coming from inside the store. Kibum groaned. “I knew this was a terrible idea,” he said, but as he turned to face Jonghyun, the elder had already flickered away, racing into the store before Kibum could even blink. He sighed (because what choice did he have?), and followed.

 

XXX

 

“Give me all the fucking money from the cash register.” The hooded and armed man spat in Taemin ear as he held the gun to the younger boy’s temple, pushing him backwards slightly as he let go of his neck harshly. Taemin doubled over, coughing, before being forced to straighten up by the man pushing the gun under his chin. “GET THE FUCKING MONEY!” He yelled, patience wearing thin. He had a dark sweatshirt on, hood pulled over his head and black dust mask pulled over the lower half of his face, so all Taemin could see was his eyes - they were possibly the most frightening thing about him. The man had bright red contacts in, almost as if his eyes were glowing from beneath the dark shadow the hood cast over his face. They scared the living shit out of him.  
Taemin gulped. Reaching out a shaking hand, he opened the register, and his heart stuttered. All that was left was small change and notes, probably only adding up to about ₩20,000. He hesitated, and the man leaned over the counter, looking for himself to see what was taking so long. The gun was still pressed to the underside of his chin, digging in harder, so Taemin just stood there with his eyes pressed tightly shut, swallowing loudly.

“What the fuck is this?” The man swore, clicking the gun off the safety before knocking Taemin’s cap off his head so fast he could only see a blur. The man grabbed a fist full of Taemin’s hair and dragged him closer. Pinpricks of pain ran through Taemin’s scalp, and as he looked at the man he saw those red eyes shining brightly. “You’ll have to repay for all my hard work somehow,” he scowled, roughly turning Taemin head to the side and pressing his own face into the younger’s neck. Too terrified to move, his hands and feet went numb and started tingling. All he could feel was the cold metal of the gun pressed up against his neck. He started shaking. Was this the end? He felt the man’s hot breath through the mask against his neck, and suddenly felt the urge to throw up.

As the man inhaled, Taemin’s pulse galloping in terror, the window at the front of the store shattered, the sound piercing through the tension and silence in the small store. Taemin startled back, flinching and gasping as several small shards of glass hit him, cutting his face and arms, a few lodging themselves in his pale skin. The man didn’t let go of him, however, wrapping an arm around his neck and dragging him over the counter with an ease that shouldn’t have been possible. Taemin let out a cry as his hip was bashed against the hard surface, and would have collapsed onto the ground if it wasn’t for the arm around his neck holding him up. His vision faded in and out, but through the dark haze he could make out two figures standing by the shattered window. _My boss isn’t going to be happy about that,_ Taemin thought to himself, and immediately had to repress the urge to giggle like a lunatic. In between the buzzing static that filled his ears, he could faintly make out voices.

“Let him go, Daeyeon.”

“Under whose authority, Kibum?” Taemin could feel the body holding him hostage vibrate as these words were said, leading him to believe his name was Daeyeon.

“As if that even matters, just stop being an ass, Daeyeon.” a third voice entered the conversation, and for some reason it was familiar to Taemin, although he couldn’t pick why. _An angel…?_ He thought in his panic-induced state of mind, failing to hold back crazed giggles this time. He felt the arm around his neck tighten, cutting off his air supply abruptly.

“Shut the fuck up, slut,” Daeyeon spat in his ear, and Taemin cringed away but the gun came back up and was pressed to his forehead, the cold deadliness of it squashing any other coping mechanisms coming to the surface.

“Don’t fucking call him that!” the third voice shouted angrily, and before Taemin could even process what was going on, the hold around his neck vanished and he dropped to the ground, whimpering as he sucked in mouthfuls of air. A face appeared above him, and he could feel cold hands pressed against his cheeks. He flinched away, neck groaning in protest, but the hands held him steady. “It’s okay, it’s okay, I’ve got you,” the man whispered; he was the familiar sounding one. As Taemin looked up at him, he was enraptured by familiar purple eyes that he’d never seen before (and yet he had). Sounds of a fight coming from the other end of the store surrounded them, but in that moment, all Taemin could see was the majestic man hovering over him, face dangerously close to his own.

“I’m Jonghyun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
> ig https://www.instagram.com/em13.x
> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
> Please leave a kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe if you want to read more! It helps me update faster.


	4. Take the Dive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kibum and Jonghyun protect and care for Taemin, and find themselves coming to an intriguing and terrifying conclusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow regular update much?  
> Hope you all had a good week xxx  
> It's my last week at home before I move cities to go to University (I'm literally moving fucking islands, people). SO please forgive me if I don't update on time. I might, though. We'll see. 
> 
> Quick warning: violence, blood, swearing, but of course coupled with some sweet hurt/comfort and a dash of fluffiness~  
> ENJOY <3

**Chapter 4 - Take the Dive**

_"I stopped breathing, without realising_

_the moment that I found you._

_I have a feeling that these countless coincidences_

_will eventually flow into your sea."_

_Take the Dive, Jonghyun 2018_

 

The hands pressed against Taemin’s cheeks were freezing cold, but did nothing to freeze the warm look in Jonghyun’s eyes; those deep purple eyes seemed to stare straight into Taemin’s soul, and he shivered before the other man broke their gaze, looking over Taemin’s head to the back of the store. Taemin’s eyes roamed over Jonghyun’s face, taking in his fluffy brown hair that was swept up and parted slightly to show a slither of forehead; pale skin stretched itself tightly over high cheekbones, dark eyebrows helping to frame his face. There was something eerily familiar about the face that was awfully close to his own. He tried to recall why, but was distracted as Jonghyun’s fingers started to rub small circles on the left side of his face, fingertips cool and calming. Taemin sighed, relaxing into the man’s hold, and while a very realistic part of his brain scream that this was a very bad idea, part of him just didn’t care anymore. He gave up, his head lolling to the side, and slowly drowned in the fuzziness that had started to consume his vision. Everything went dark, but he was warm, and nothing mattered anymore except for the hands that held him.

 

XXX

 

“Jonghyun!” The man himself was snapped out of his trance by Kibum calling his name, eyes breaking contact with the human he was holding as he looked towards the other. Kibum was standing over the fledgling’s unconscious body, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle, effectively making him look like his head was screwed on backwards. A look of surprise and anguish was permanently pasted onto his face, and Jonghyun had to stifle a laugh at the younger’s slightly sadistic sense of humour.

“You realise that Hyungwon is going to kill you for attacking one of his coven, right?” he asked Kibum, raising an eyebrow.

“Why are you telling me this?” Kibum laughed. “This is _your_ human, therefore _your_ responsibility.”

“I’m old enough to look after myself,” the elder snorted.

Kibum stuck his tongue out. “And as if I’m not…” he mumbled. “Whatever, we’ll deal with him later. Let me see who I knocked someone out for,” he said, running his hands through his slightly dishevelled hair and walking over to where Jonghyun was hovering over his precious human. At first, Kibum thought it was a girl, with long hair that hung down low in molten bronze strands. Upon closer inspection, the slightly masculine eyebrows and contours of his face gave him away. But he was pretty for a boy, and Kibum supposed it was probably initially the duality of this human that attracted Jonghyun. Long eyelashes cast spidery shadows over his cheekbones, lining closed eyes, and Kibum swallowed involuntarily. He couldn’t help but wonder what shade the human’s eyes were.

Primarily enraptured by the human’s looks, the thick scent of blood invaded the younger’s senses soon after. Jonghyun didn’t seem to notice, or simply didn’t care; but he was older and more immune whereas Kibum’s sense of smell was incredibly sensitive. His eyes tracked a bead of blood as it ran down the side of the human’s face from where a shard of glass had buried itself near his eyebrow. It dripped onto the ground, and the almost inaudible sound it made rang in Kibum’s ears. He swallowed again.

“Jjong, you take care of,” he stuttered, “of him. I’ll deal with this piece of shit.” To be honest, the human’s blood was making him hangry. He’d always cursed the sensitivity of his nose, and it irritated him to the core. Twirling around with a glare and narrowed eyes that only seemed natural on his face, he stalked towards the crumpled body of Daeyeon, grabbing his leg as he walked past and dragged him out the back emergency door of the store. Once they were outside in the cool winter air, Kibum grabbed him by the neck, slamming him into the brick wall of the back of the store. The harsh night air nipped at his exposed skin, but it didn’t bother him in the slightest. He cocked his head to the side as Daeyeon’s eyelids fluttered slightly, seemingly coming around and healing rapidly from his injuries. Sourly, Kibum wished the pathetic fledgling in front of him was a human, simply so that he wouldn’t have to deal with him any longer (or could at least use him as a nice source of food). Kibum couldn’t kill him - well, he _could_ , but that would get his coven into a boat-load of shit they weren’t capable of dealing with at the present moment - but he could very well give the scumbag a warning.

Kibum slapped him so hard Daeyeon’s face whipped to the side, scraping along the rough bricks behind him. He swore, spitting a tooth out onto the ground, and Kibum watched with unimpressed eyes as it regrew in a matter of seconds. “Fuck off, will you? All I wanted was a bit of-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Kibum interrupted, growling under his breath. The being he was holding captive didn’t even flinch. Instead, he grinned wider.

“-fun.”

“Fucking bastard!” Snarling, Kibum was overcome with a wave of possessiveness and anger surged through his undead veins. He could feel his own eyes glowing brightly as he threw a left hook right into Daeyeon’s eye. The fledgling gasped, before grinning insanely. His eye was bloodshot and clouded over, brow bone cut and leaking blood into his eye and down his face due to Kibum’s signet ring. He spat out a mouthful of blood and a small part of Kibum groaned internally. _Seriously? These shoes are fucking GUCCI, motherfucker!_

“Touched a wee nerve there, did we?” Daeyeon cackled, and that was when Kibum snapped, not giving an absolute shit about the consequences that might follow. Growling in a manner that was certainly not human, his right hand still pinning the other’s neck to the wall, he gripped Daeyeon’s right arm with his left. Anger completely consuming him, he ripped the fledgling’s arm clean off, and the snap and squish of muscles, tendons and bones reverberated in his ears. Daeyeon screamed out, but Kibum just grinned. He tossed the arm away; it was no use to him or Daeyeon anymore.

“Now listen here, punk,” Kibum whispered harshly in Daeyeon’s ear, moving his bloody hand to clamp it over Daeyeon’s mouth, muffling his annoying screams. “Don’t you _ever_ fucking touch what belongs to us - got it? Jonghyun already laid a claim on him. So,” he paused, his nails piercing into Daeyeon’s neck. “Keep your _fucking paws off._ ”

Kibum shoved Daeyeon away from the wall, flashing his fangs at him as a final warning. Daeyeon scowled through a flood of bloody tears, before flickering off. He sighed, licking the remaining blood off of his hands. It tasted foul; vampire blood that wasn’t bonded with your own always tasted quite horrible. Like lead coating the underside of his tongue, he grimaced, spitting it out before re-entering the store.

 

XXX

 

Jonghyun quickly and carefully took care of the human he was holding in his arms. Ripping open a packet of metal tweezers from the damaged health isle of the small store, he removed the pieces of glass with as much care as possible, before wiping the blood off of his face. His wounds weren’t that deep, superficial really, and Jonghyun was glad to a degree; he would’ve hated to see his human’s face marked up.

 _His human_ \- Jonghyun wondered when he’d started thinking of the guy as that. He didn’t even know the human’s name, as he didn’t wear a name badge on his uniform vest. And yet there was an energy about him, a bond between them. Jonghyun knew he wanted to protect his human at all costs.

Perhaps ‘his’ wasn’t even the right term. When Kibum first looked at the human, Jonghyun felt an inexplicable warmth bloom in his chest. Maybe the younger hadn’t noticed it, but Jonghyun had slyly glimpsed the awe and adoring look in Kibum’s eyes; the way his mouth went slack for a half second; how he had to swallow several times to put him longing on hold. So yes, ‘his’ wasn’t the right term: Jonghyun had a feeling that ‘theirs’ was better suited.

He pushed the long, glossy hair out of the human’s face, smoothing it out and combing his fingers through it gently. It made him shudder a little, how beautifully fragile their human was. Jonghyun pulled him onto his lap, leaning the boy’s back against his own chest as he continued to stroke through his hair. Although his body was weak, his heartbeat wasn’t. The sound of it fluttered through Jonghyun’s ears, strong and steady and _beautiful_.

He heard Kibum re-enter the store, and the younger came over to sit next to him, grabbing Jonghyun’s free hand in his own. Jonghyun could smell a repulsive type of blood mixed in the air with Kibum’s own sweet scent and the lingering traces of their human’s delectable blood. He wrinkled his nose in distaste, before looking over to his younger lover. “Thank you,” he murmured. “For dealing with him.”

Kibum sighed, squeezing his hyung’s hand. While he didn’t call Jonghyun his hyung verbally, the respect and intention behind his words was always present, and Jonghyun _knew_ that, so he didn’t mind. “That’s okay. Your turn next time,” he said, moving closer into Jonghyun’s personal space and resting his head on the older’s shoulder. He exhaled heavily, before running a hand of his own through the human’s hair. “He’s not like Jongin, is he?” Kibum asked, mostly to himself, but it was Jonghyun who answered.

“Nope,” he agreed, and Kibum turned to stare at the human with curious eyes.

“This is the first time I’ve seen him, and yet I feel,” Kibum paused, searching for the right words. “Weirdly protective of him? I just, I don’t know…”

“That’s how I felt when I first saw him as well,” Jonghyun said, trying to suppress a smile. “I still feel like that.”

“I just got so angry,” Kibum shook his head. “And I don’t know why. I don’t see him as food, or a simple plaything. It’s like I want to take-”

“-care of him?” They finished at the same time, looking at each other. Jonghyun panicked a little at the look in Kibum’s eyes. “You don’t think he’s… _that,_ do you?”

“What other explanation is there?” the younger shrugged, pulling his head off Jonghyun’s shoulder. “We’re both drawn to the same human at the same time, feeling the same things - don’t you think that’s as greater indicator as any?”

“Why are you suddenly all for this?” Jonghyun grumbled, this time burying his head in Kibum’s neck.

Kibum scoffed. “And why aren’t you?” to which Jonghyun just spluttered, and Kibum rolled his eyes. “You can’t keep denying that there’s a really fucking good chance that-”

“Don’t finish that-”

“-he is our-”

“Bummie!”

“-mate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
> ig https://www.instagram.com/em13.x
> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
> Please leave a kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe if you want to read more! It helps me update faster.


	5. Odd Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonghyun and Kibum talk some more.  
> Taemin starts to find some answers.  
> Jaehwan has two problems: 1) Wonsik and 2) slamming doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took 2 weeks to get this out! I moved into my hall of residence for uni (it took more than 14 hours to drive here urghhhh); I've been living here by myself for 8 days now and today was my first official day of uni! I'm studying a Bachelor of Design Innovation and it's super fun and hard but awesome at the same time! :D Enjoy this chapter!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of self-harm and high-level panic. keep yourselves safe xx

**Chapter 5: Odd Eye**

_"You were something different,_

_I knew you'd be like this._

_That something special,_

_different from others._

_I knew you had it."_

_Odd Eye, SHINee 2015_

 

When Jaehwan woke up the following morning, anxiety was already tattooed into his bones. The icy air of his small bedroom was his first warning sign: Taemin always, _always_ turned the heater on in the mornings during the winter. Jaehwan’s breath hitched a little, but he tried to shake all the bad thoughts away - _he probably just forgot, hyung was probably super tired. You can’t blame him can you, Jaehwan? -_ still, he knew he was hoping for the best. He pulled a sweater on that had been lying down beside his bed, shrugging it on and pulling the sleeves past his hands. A flash of light caught his eye - the razor he’d left on his small, rickety desk. He swallowed, slowly getting up and putting it in his school bag - _disposing of the evidence,_ his mind helpfully supplied, but he shooed that thought away as soon as it came. He was fine. There was nothing wrong.

Jaehwan opened the door to his bedroom, the creaking out it ominously loud as it broke the silence in the apartment. “Hyung?” he asked, but no response came. He pushed the door open the rest of the way, walking into the living room. The curtains were still closed, casting an aqua hue on the room as the winter sun shone through the blue material. Jaehwan looked towards the couch, and he felt his stomach fill with lead as he saw that his older brother wasn’t lying there. He looked towards the bathroom door - that too was open. “Hyung?!” he tried again, and he could feel his panic level rising. _Okay, deep breaths Jaehwan_ , he told himself, trying to drown out the voice in his head that screamed _PANIC PANIC PANIC WHY AREN’T YOU PANICKING YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF---_

A knock at the door brought him out of his downward spiral. Swallowing down the bile that had started working itself up his throat in nervousness, Jaehwan wrenched the apartment door open, slamming it against the wall behind him. “Hyung-” the words came out of his mouth before he could even see who it was, but his heart sank when he found that it was Wonsik standing at the door. Jaehwan had only met him a few times, and despite the situation, he felt his cheeks colour slightly. His light blue hair was ruffled and stuck up strangely in some places and was flat in others, as if he’d just got out of bed. His eyes were wide and alert though, and his foot tapped an impatient rhythm on the cold concrete floor.

“Jaehwanie,” he grinned, and Jaehwan could already tell it was forced. He felt his heart sink back down again, the redness fading quickly from his cheeks.

“Do you know where hyung is?” Jaehwan asked in a broken voice, shivering through the thick sweatshirt.

“Yeah. I got a call from the hospital. There was,” Wonsik paused, biting his lip. “a fight? At the store? And Taemin got caught in the middle of it.”

Every word branded itself on Jaehwan’s brain, and he let out a broken cry before hiding his face in his long sleeves. It seemed like his worst nightmare had happened - his hung and gotten hurt because of him. It was all Jaehwan’s fault - if only he didn’t have to go to stupid _fucking_ school, making his poor hyung work his ass off doing something he hated, oh my go _d oh mygodohmy-_

Warm arms pulling him into an embrace pulled Jaehwan out of his head, his head resting against a firm chest. He breathed in shallowly, Wonsik’s scent filling his head. He knew he was shaking, but Wonsik just held him through his agony. “It’s not your fault,” he whispered, just loud enough for the younger to hear. “He’s okay. We’ll go see him, yeah?” Jaehwan just nodded into Wonsik’s jacket as he felt tears sting his eyes.

 

XXX

 

APPROX SIX HOURS BEFORE

Jonghyun just stared at Kibum. “What?” Kibum scoffed. “You know it’s probably true. At the very least, we can both agree he’s not just an ordinary human.”

Jonghyun looked back down at their human’s face, continuing to run his fingers through the silky strands of hair. He found it hard to accept that he could be their mate, although it did make sense to a degree. Jonghyun had been the only one that actually felt an attraction to Jongin, for more than just his blood; the rest of their small coven hadn’t been as attached. That had been why…

Jonghyun shook the thoughts away. It scared him, honestly. He didn’t want to have to go through that again. Even though it had been more than 300 years ago, he still felt the ache like it had been last week, and that was one of the most frightening parts. He physically couldn’t go through that again.

Almost reading his thoughts, Kibum’s tone softened immediately. He pressed a light kiss to Jonghyun’s head which still rested on his shoulder. “It won’t be like last time,” he promised. “I feel it too.” He paused, before giggling. “Besides, he’s really fucking cute, isn’t he?”

Jonghyun stifled a chuckle, nodding. “Yeah,” he grinned and then sighed. “So, what now? Should we take him back?”

“He’ll be too shocked if we take him back to Jinki and Minho,” Kibum shook his head. “No, we’ll take him to a hospital instead. It causes less trouble that way.”

“Why are you the reasonable one when I’m older?” Jonghyun grumbled under his breath as he stood up, carrying their human bridal style so he wouldn’t get any more injuries. Glass cracked under his feet as the pair walked out through the destroyed storefront, leaving the artificial mess behind them.

“Because my brain cells haven't rotted away yet,” Kibum laughed, ruffling Jonghyun’s hair. The elder groaned, shaking him off.

“That doesn’t even make sense,”

“Exactly!”

 

XXX

 

When Taemin came to, the first things he saw were those purple eyes. Those kind eyes, the way he could swim in the depths of them until the strength in his arms gave out…

Except they faded the moment he opened his eyes, oversaturating into nothing against the bright white tiled ceiling that glared brightly. His hearing faded in, static giving way to monotonous high-pitched beeps that bounced off the walls around him. Taemin coughed his throat dry, and as he attempted to sit up, he suddenly felt large hands pushing him back onto the bed. He flinched back, eyes open wide in terror as he looked at his attacker-

-only to find that it was Wonsik. The man raised his hands up beside his head. “Taeminnie, chill, I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said slowly, and the tone of his voice mixed with the way he usually talked would’ve been hilarious if Taemin wasn’t so terrified. “The doctor just said that you weren’t allowed to get up - you could damage your hip even more if you do.”

“My… hip?” Taemin asked slowly, voice still a little groggy from unconsciousness.

“Yeah, your left hip has a couple of hairline fractures. Nothing too serious, you just can’t move around a lot while they heal.” Taemin nodded slowly as Wonsik recounted the rest of the injuries he had. Cuts on his face, gashes on his arms, and bruising and swelling on his neck. Nothing major, but enough to keep him in the hospital for a few days, according to his coworker.

“Boss has given you like two weeks off? Paid as well,” Wonsik continued, sitting back down beside Taemin’s bed. “He said there wasn’t that much damage, just the front windows smashed and a few thousand won stolen out of the cash register. Speaking of, how much do you remember?”

Taemin rubbed his eyes tiredly, shrugging as much as he could. “I don’t know,” he started. “All I can remember is the guy coming in and pressing a gun to my head, I took the money out of the register and then he got angry since I’d just changed the float, so there wasn’t that much. And then-” _Jonghyun._

The name sent shivers through Taemin’s body, and the rest of the incident came back to him. The two handsome men that… saved him? Why had they saved him? Where were they?

“Taemin?”

“Um, how did I get here? Was there an ambulance? Was there anyone else-”

Wonsik coughed, scratching the back of his head. “Uh, that’s the strange thing. There wasn’t an ambulance called. Apparently some guy delivered you to the ER, and as soon as the doctors took you away, he just disappeared. Super weird, right? Was there, like, anyone else with you when it happened? Like a customer?”

Taemin swallowed. There was a part of him that screamed to tell Wonsik the truth about Jonghyun, that he had saved him, and about the previous incident that had happened, but another part of him whispered that it wasn’t a good idea. “I- uh, n-no, I was the only one there,”

“Hmm. Weird,” Wonsik started, but before he could continue questioning Taemin, the door to the room slammed open, causing both men to jump.

“TAEMIN HYUNG!” was all the warning Taemin got before Jaehwan jumped on his bed, carefully avoiding his body and instead settling beside him, wrapping his skinny arms around his older brother’s shoulders. His hands were cold where they fisted in the back of his hospital gown, but they were welcome nonetheless. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he whispered in his hyung’s ear.

Taemin smiled, hugging Jaehwan back as much as he could without hurting himself. “So am I.”

 

XXX

 

Later that day when visiting hours were over and Wonsik had to take Jaehwan home, Taemin lay in bed, bored out of his mind. Scrolling through his phone just to take up time, he started closing all of his open tabs, when he saw the ‘Contacts’ app had been opened recently. _When did I open that?_ He asked himself, tapping into it. The contact name that was open screamed itself at him from the screen:

 

_Jonghyun_

 

Taemin swallowed. _No way._ He didn’t know any Jonghyun’s, except… No, it couldn’t be. He debated deleting the contact, but couldn’t muster the strength to select the “ _Delete contact_ ’ button.

So with shaking hands, he typed.

When the responses came almost instantly, Taemin’s hands started to sweat. He could feel himself blushing as he remembered Jonghyun and the other man. He settled back into bed, biting his lip, and as he drifted off to sleep, he was swept away into two pairs of piercing purple eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
> ig https://www.instagram.com/em13.x
> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
> Please leave a kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe if you want to read more! It helps me update faster.


	6. Press Your Number

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taemin and Jonghyun message.  
> Minho and Kibum make a visit to a particular store.  
> Wonsik is oblivious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a week late and iM SORRY but uni has been kicking my ass :')  
> Thank you for the lovely comments on the last chapter - every piece of support makes me update faster!  
> This chapter is a bit longer as an apology for being late xx  
> I'll definitely be on time next week!

**Chapter 6 - Press Your Number**

 

 _"Press your number again, answer me_  
_Even if you left now, it’s only for a moment_  
_That’s how I feel, let me listen again_  
_Whisper in my ear once again"_

_Press Your Number, Taemin 2016_

 

Taemin’s days in the hospital passed rather quickly. During the day, Wonsik or Jaehwan would keep him company, depending on whether the younger had school or not. And that was fine: the human interaction did him good, kept him sane within the four white walls that kept his prisoner. Even though he was still bored out of his mind, he could at least feel his body healing. Every day that passed, his hip ached less and less, the cuts and bruises healing into nothing. He didn’t mind the time off work either, especially since he was still being paid sick leave.

It was at night, however, when visiting hours were over, that Taemin looked forward to the most.

He and Jonghyun messaged each other constantly at night, the older man’s replies coming almost instantaneously after Taemin sent him a message. They didn’t really message during the day; Taemin supposed that Jonghyun was just busy at work and didn’t want to be disturbed.

The two talked about anything and everything: from Jonghyun’s favourite music and Taemin’s love of dance, to Taemin’s shitty job and Jonghyun’s “annoying but lovable” dongsaeng’s and their antics. It brought Taemin comfort through the long nights, when he couldn’t sleep - could only see those bright red eyes that haunted him even in the brightest of places.

Another thing Taemin found out about Jonghyun: he loved to use emojis. Almost as much as Jaehwan - and that was a feat in itself.

XXX

A few days later, Taemin was ready to be discharged from the hospital. While he wasn’t particularly looking forward to going back to work, he was glad that he was able to actually go outside now; that he could stand up, walk around without constantly worrying about his hip. The doctor had told him that it was almost fully healed, he just had to be careful not to strain it too much.

Wonsik drove him back to his and Jaehwan’s apartment, moaning the whole time about how boring work was without Taemin. “Honestly, it was awful,” he groaned, thumping his hand on the steering wheel.

“Aw, Wonsikkie, so you do care about me!” Taemin laughed, adjusting the cap that sat on his head.

“Of course I do,” Wonsik grumbled, reaching a hand over to knock the cap off Taemin’s head and ruffling his hair.

“Oi, hey, get out!” Taemin cried, slapping Wonsik’s hand away as they pulled up to the curb. Wonsik just chuckled, popping open the boot of his car using the button in his keys. Taemin exited the car, grabbing his backpack that Wonsik had brought to him in the hospital, and leaned in through the open window. “Aren’t you coming in? Jaehwan will probably wanna say hi too.”

Wonsik stilled for a brief second, just barely enough for Taemin to notice it, before shaking his head. “Ah, nah, no thanks, I have to get home anyway, have a sleep before tonight. You’ll be okay, though?”

Taemin just laughed, “Okay, see you tonight,” before pulling away from the car and entering the apartment building. The thing that lingered in his mind, though, was the way Wonsik’s ears had turned red at the mention of Jaehwan.

As he opened the door to their apartment, all the warning he got was a loud screech that vaguely sounded something like “hyUUNNGG!” before a smaller body latched itself onto him. Taemin stumbled back a little into the doorway at the sudden weight, but wrapped his arms around his brother nonetheless. Taemin knew Jaehwan had attachment issues; that much was clear, especially with the way Jaehwan was desperately trying to get closer to him. A pang went through Taemin’s heart, and the gult started to creep in. _It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault, it’s our fucking parents,_ he chanted to himself, and squeezed Jaehwan harder. When the younger finally wiggled away, he looked up at Taemin, and Taemin was suddenly struck with how young his brother looked. Eyes wide and cheeks red with excitement, long sleeves pulled over his hands, ears and nose too big for his small face and long hair that obviously needed a trim - he really was only 17, and Taemin often forgot this with how much Jaehwan looked after himself when he wasn’t there. He was still growing, for God’s sake - he’d probably tower past Taemin in a couple of years. The thought almost made Taemin cry, but he grinned through it. “How are you, Jaewhannie?”

The younger fake-pouted, widening his eyes even further until they started watering. “I missed you, hyung!”

Taemin just chuckled, patting his brother on the shoulder a few times before gripping the back of his neck teasingly. “Ah, I missed you too,”

Jaehwan squawked, pulling away from Taemin’s hold before running to their small kitchenette.

 

XXX

 

“And you’re sure he’s our mate?” Jinki asked, crossing his arms, but his gentle tone betrayed his tough and imposing posture.

“99% positive,” Kibum answered, swirling his glass around and he inspected the contents.

“He’s so adorable!” Jonghyun squealed, clutching his phone to his chest. A few weeks ago, he’d been totally opposed to using technology (unlike Minho and Kibum), and had only owned a phone for sake of appearances. But ever since he’d started texting their human, Taemin, he’d fallen slightly in love with both the human and his phone in general. He loved using those text smiley’s - _what are they called again? Ah! Emojis! -_ and used them at every opportunity. They were cute and funny, just like their human.

Minho snorted. “I can see your heart eyes from all the way over here,”

“No shit,” Kibum laughed breathlessly. “But if you’d seen him, you’d probably be like that too.”

“Then why aren’t you acting like that?” the youngest asked, tilting his head to the side accusingly.

“Oh, Minho,” Kibum chuckled darkly, standing up and slinking over to Minho, running his free hand through the younger’s blonde hair and gripping it tightly. Minho let out a hiss, looking up at him through narrowed eyes. Kibum just smirked. “You know I’m good at holding things in,” he stated. Minho ran his tongue over his own teeth, and Kibum started leaning in closer-

“-Okay!” Jinki interrupted. The pair looked at him, a little disgruntled at being interrupted. “Why don’t you go and see him yourself, Minho, if you’re so unsure?”

“He’ll be back working tonight,” Jonghyun said quietly. His eyes had never left his phone screen during this whole exchange.

Kibum sighed, releasing Minho’s hair and smoothing it over gently with his hand. “I suppose I’ll take you, then,” he said to the younger, grabbing his hand and pulling him off of the loveseat. “I doubt he’ll remember me, so we’ll be just be normal, ordinary, _human_ customers, okay?”

“Okay,” MInho agreed easily, but somewhere in Kibum’s mind, unease started to creep in. Minho was easily the most possessive and competitive out of the four of them. Things could go wrong quite easily. He shook his head though; Minho was old enough to restrain himself now. He hoped.

 

XXX

 

Taemin’s first night back hadn’t gone off to a bad start, for once. Their boss had decided to change Wonsik’s schedule so that the two of them were working the same hours for the foreseeable future, and the thought brought Taemin a whole truckload of comfort. He felt grateful to his boss; the ahjussi might be a bit cold and stingy at times, but he did care about his shop and his workers wellbeing, so Taemin supposed he could have a much worse job.

But right now, Wonsik’s blue hair was giving him a headache. Taemin loved the guy like a brother, don’t get him wrong, but having him constantly flutter around Taemin and asking if he was okay really wasn’t helping the situation.

“I’m honestly fine, Wonsik-ah, why don’t you go out back and do inventory for a bit? You’ve been working too hard,” Taemin said in a light tone, hoping Wonsik would believe him.

“Ah, only if you’re sure, Taeminnie,” Wonsik said reluctantly, but his body language was anything but.

“Yeah! Take it easy,” he grinned, pushing his same-aged friend towards the store room. Wonsik tried to hide a grin, and sauntered away.

Taemin relaxed a bit after that, not having Wonsik’s cautious eyes plastered to his back every single second. The shop had been quiet, anyway; just the odd student and late-night worker.The odds that there were going to be drunk people coming in were low, although he knew not to keep his hopes up: he couldn’t imagine that many people would be drinking on a Monday night, anyway.

The minutes passed slowly, the hands on the clock dragging along, but the peace was nice, and Taemin didn’t particularly mind. That was until the electronic buzzing pierced through the quiet, and someone entered the store. Taemin busied himself with re-arranging the candy bar beside the checkout, moving the items to the front. He absorbed himself into his work so much that he didn’t notice the shadow that fell over him until he heard someone clearing their throat. He looked up slowly, cringing back minutely to avoid getting hit or punched or assaulted again, but the sight that greeted him shocked him a little.

Purple eyes stared back at him kindly.

It wasn’t Jonghyun - Taemin had already memorised the shape of his eyes, engraving the image into his brain. No, these eyes were different, yet familiar; and as Taemin focussed on the man’s face instead of his eyes, he recognised him - the man that had helped save him from the attacker that put him in hospital. Taemin didn’t know his name, but he recognised the small, angular structure of his face, the bright shock of pink hair that sat styled perfectly on his head, and the cat-like eyes that bore into his. The handsomeness of the man left Taemin feeling breathless, and he could feel his cheeks glowing gently with a pink blush.

“Uh-m, hi,” Taemin stuttered out, wringing his hands together nervously as he looked down, too embarrassed and intimidated to meet the man’s eyes. “You’re the person who was with Jonghyun hyung, so t-thank you for the other night,” he said quietly, still looking down.

“Oh, um,” the man started, and Taemin knew he’d guessed right, as he recognised the voice clearly. “No problem. I’m Kibum,” he said, and a outstretched hand entered Taemin’s line of vision. He looked up a little, slowly placing his hand in Kibum’s, and shook the man’s hand. Kibum’s grip was gentle, the skin of his hand smooth and cold. It made Taemin shiver a little, and a laugh came from someone else. Taemin’s gazed moved up quickly, and he was struck by the third pair of purple eyes. He gasped a little, taking in the purple orbs placed within deep-set eyes, and he felt his blush intensify. The unknown man smirked a little, before replacing it with a wide grin. He reached around Kibum, offering his hand as well.

“My name is Minho,” he offered, and Taemin shook his hand too. Minho’s grip was stronger than Kibum’s; firm, but still soft. Obviously he was friends with Jonghyun and Kibum, and Taemin found himself shocked by the other-worldly beauty of the three men. To be quite frank, he was attracted to all of them, and guilt burned in the pit of his stomach, but he couldn’t help it - Minho’s swept back blonde hair, lightly tanned complexion and plump lips were like something out of the pages of one of Jaehwan’s many fashion magazines, and Taemin found himself swallowing dryly.

A chuckle snapped Taemin out of his head, and he realised he’d been staring at Minho and was still holding his hand. “Oh, sorry!” Taemin squeaked, retracting his hand quickly. His cheeks were burning now, and he felt his palms sweating. Why did he always have to be so embarrassing?

“All good,” Minho laughed. It went silent for a second, and Taemin groaned inwardly at the awkwardness, before remembering that he technically hadn’t introduced himself yet.

“Oh, I’m Taemin, by the way,” he said.

“We know, Jonghyun told us,” Minho replied, smiling gently with a strange look in his eyes… _adoration?_

It went silent for a minute again, before Kibum broke it. “We just thought we’d stop by to say hi. Jonghyun hyung is,” he paused, “busy, tonight, but we were told it was your first day back after the incident,”

“So we came to wish you good luck! Fighting!” Minho said, doing an overdramatic fist pump, and Taemin couldn’t stop himself from laughing a little.

Kibum rolled his eyes a little at the other’s antics, shaking his head. “Yeah, and also we thought we’d give you our numbers? Just in case anything happens again and you need one of us to help you.”

“Oh, um, are you sure?” Taemin asked. “I mean, not that I don’t appreciate it or anything, but I don’t want to bother-”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Minho interrupted, startling Taemin a little. Minho smiled in apology, before continuing, “Jonghyun has really taken a liking to you, and we want to get to know you more as well! Your safety is our top priority!”

“Oh, well, I guess, then? Sure?” Taemin laughed a little, and the sound and confirmation made the men’s eyes light up.

As Minho their numbers in Taemin’s phone, Kibum turned to Taemin. “Oh, and call us both hyung too. We’re older than you,”

Taemin was a little flustered, but he agreed nonetheless. “O-okay, hyungs,”

The answer made Kibum grin widely, and he placed a hand on Taemin’s shoulder near his neck, squeezing gently. “Remember, if you ever need us, let us know, okay?”

Taemin just nodded, smiling. The two men said their goodbyes, Minho winking at him on the way out. Taemin’s heart fluttered in his chest, and he had to stop himself from instantaneously combusting. Those men and their purple eyes… they did something to him, made him forget the thoughts that constantly plagued him. Taemin knew he was shooting heart eyes at the counter where he was staring, but he didn’t care. Three pairs of purple eyes lingered in his vision and shot hearts back at him.

Suddenly Wonsik’s voice registered in Taemin’s ear. “What did I miss?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
> ig https://www.instagram.com/em13.x
> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
> Please leave a kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe if you want to read more! It helps me update faster.


	7. Guess Who

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kibum and Minho talk relay what happened.  
> The Lees and Wonsik go to a club.  
> Jaehwan and Wonsik get personal.  
> Taemin finds himself in a tricky situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY  
> I don't have any other excuses apart from: Uni has been kicking my ass and Ive had no time to write.  
> On the other hand -   
> Have y'all checked out VIXX's comeback?? I literally died crying. And they got their 1st win for Scentist last night!!!! Talk about true legends.   
> xxxx thanks for sticking around if anyone's actually there
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING:  
> Violence and slight non-con  
> also jaehwan being too sexy - that's a real trigger warning

**Chapter 7 - Guess Who**

 

" _I hold my breath, but when_ __  
I approach you it’s a trap  
Even though you hide in the darkness  
I can clearly see your cards...

_Who’s on the dance floor (Scream for me)"_

_ Guess Who, Taemin, 2016 _

When Minho and Kibum returned to the manor, Jonghyun was spread out on the couch with his head in Jinki’s lap, the leader of their small coven raking his hands through Jonghyun’s soft hair. They both looked up at the pair as they walked in, and the wide grin that was plastered on Minho’s face was all the confirmation they needed to know that Minho had met Taemin.

“HE’S SO ADORABLE!” Minho yelled, jumping on top of Jonghyun and burying his head in the crook of his cute hyung’s neck. Jonghyun let out a wince, winded slightly, but didn’t complain otherwise, finding comfort in Minho’s heavy weight on top of him.

“It went well, then?” Jinki asked.

“He remembered me,” Kibum sounded a little surprised still, and Jonghyun made a noise of surprise, turning his head to face the younger. Minho whined a little but the older shushed him.

“Really? So you talked to him?”

“Yeah, and he was blushing the whole time,” Kibum recounted, smirking a little at the thought. 

“He’s soooo our mate,” Minho groaned into Jonghyun’s neck, and Jonghyun just grinned. He turned his head to look back up at Jinki. “So, when are you going to meet him, hyung?”

Jinki smiled back kingly. “Soon, Jjong. Soon,”

 

XXX

 

Days passed in a blur. Work was going well for Taemin for once; in the past two weeks, he hadn’t had any dangerous encounters. He’d be lying if he said Wonsik wasn’t the reason why. His friend definitely scared off any dodgy customers - after all, the man looked tough and tattooed on the outside, but on the inside he was really just a squishy marshmallow that instantly fell in love with anything remotely cute.  _ Including Jaehwan, _ Taemin thought to himself, and while the thought weirded him out a little, it was  _ cute.  _ The pair of them were so damn  _ CUTE. _

There was no real change in Taemin’s days - sleep during the day, wake up and spend whatever time he could with Jaehwan until he went to work, do said work, come home and make lunch and breakfast for Jaehwan, send Jaehwan off to school, and then fall asleep. The cycle was monotonous and boring at times, but the normality helped to ground him. The other constant thing was the messages that always graced his phone. 

Taemin had found great company and friendship in the three men’s messages. He hadn’t seen them in person since Minho and Kibum had visited him, but he was sent the occasional selfie (well,  _ occasional  _ was the wrong word for Kibum; the older man sent him multiple selfies a day, especially of what he was wearing, and it delighted Taemin to no end). Jonghyun’s messages were sweet, always filled with adorable emojis - some which Taemin had to get Jaehwan to explain to him. He felt comfortable with the eldest man. Kibum’s messages were often sassy and sarcastic, with a caring undertone. These messages amused Taemin extremely, and he’d become extremely fond of his new friend. Minho’s messages were something else entirely. Being closer in age, they talked about a lot of topics - Taemin learnt that Minho became very passionate very quickly. They joked around a lot, and Taemin found himself always looking forward to these late night/early morning conversations. 

In truth, Taemin looked forward to any message from the three men. It helped brighten his day (or more accurately, his nights). But he still felt the guilt stirring in his chest. Taemin found all three of them extremely attractive, and he could see him going out with any one of them. Not that there was any possibility of that happening, though - he’d discovered that Kibum and Minho were dating, and Jonghyun had a boyfriend that Taemin was yet to be introduced to. While it hurt knowing that all three were already spoken for, he knew he probably wouldn’t have had a chance anyway. It was nice knowing that they were gay, though. 

And so to celebrate an accident-free three weeks, Wonsik had proposed that Taemin and Jaehwan should go with him to a club in the weekend. Taemin had been reluctant letting Jaehwan tag along, but Wonsik had said it was fine and that he knew the bouncer personally - they’d have no trouble letting Jaehwan in. He was almost 18 anyway, and while Taemin didn’t like it, he couldn’t say no to his younger brother’s disgustingly cute puppy dog eyes. He did make him promise to not drink alcohol though, and Jaehwan agreed immediately, claiming that he “didn’t even like the stuff anyway”. When questioned on how he knew he didn’t like it, the younger boy paled and spinted out the door to go to school. Taemin had shook his head fondly.

Saturday came around quickly, and Taemin was a big ball of anxiety. Personally he didn’t really like drinking, but he loved letting loose and just dancing, something he didn’t get to do a lot these days. Plus Wonsik and Jaehwan were so excited - how could he bail last minute?

Wonsik had come around early to help him get dressed, and luckily he did, because Taemin had just been planning to go in a black t-shirt and plain black jeans. “Oh no, Minnie,” Wonsik said, face palming as the two stood in his small bedroom. “Those clothes are way too pedestrian for this club.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Taemin questioned, his brow furrowing. “They’re comfortable.”

Wonsik scoffed. “Yeah, and boring~” he drawled, pushing Taemin backwards so he sat on the end of his bed. “Just leave this to me,” he turned around without looking at Taemin, rummaging through his wardrobe. Taemin just sighed and feel backwards on his bed, closing his eyes. “You seriously need to get laid tonight,” he heard Wonsik mumble under his breath. Taemin’s eyes snapped open and he groaned, covering his face which he could already feel breaking out into a blush. 

“Fuck off,” Taemin said, and was answered by a pile of clothes being thrown onto him.

“Change into that,” Wonsik said, totally ignoring his friend’s displeasure. 

A few minutes later, Taemin stepped out of the bathroom, ruffling his hair with his hand. “I don’t see how this is any better…” he trailed off, but Wonsik cut him off before he could say anything else.

“Stop being stupid, of course this is better,” he said, coming forward to make some adjustments - tucking in one half of Taemin’s black and white striped shirt and leaving the other half out; rolling up his jeans at the ankle, the ones with rips in the thighs and knees; straightening the thick black choker around his neck. Wonsik stepped back to admire his handiwork. “Well, I mean, you’ll definitely get some dick tonight looking like that-”

“Wonsik!” Taemin screeched, just as Jaehwan came in. Taemin’s draw dropped. “No way are you wearing that,” he said, and Jaehwan glared at him.

“Why not?” he said while twirling around, embellished black blazer fluttering around his lithe frame, a black fishnet top covering his exposed skin, with ripped jeans tucked into black boots. He’d applied a light layer of eyeshadow and eyeliner as well, and his hair was styled upwards, pushed back from his face. “I think I look pretty good.”

A choking sound came from behind them, and Taemin turned around to find Wonsik staring at his shoes, face burning red. He rolled his eyes before turning back to Jaehwan, who was still staring expectantly at his older brother. “At least do the blazer up,” he sighed. Jaehwan replied with a wide grin, obeying quickly. 

 

XXX

 

The club was packed, but luckily Wonsik knew the bouncer, and they got in rather quickly. When Jaehwan asked later, Wonsik had replied that the man’s name was Yoongi - Jaehwan had wondered why he was even a bouncer in the first place, since he looked so fragile, but Wonsik had just laughed, saying that “Yoongi is much tougher than he looks - he also had the meanest resting bitch face I’ve ever seen.” And it was true - Jaehwan couldn’t help but laugh.

While crowded places really weren’t Jaehwan’s favourite thing, he just really wanted to have  _ fun _ . School sucked almost all of the time; it drained him physically and mentally. The only good parts of his life were the musical theatre club, his brother, Wonsik, and his internet friend Jimin. Speaking of, he quickly sent Jimin a picture of the bouncer, laughing as he sent the picture with the caption,  _ “Your type, right?” _

Jimin replied with a simple  _ “stfu. yes.” _

The three men danced for a while, Wonsik and Taemin getting more than a little bit drunk on the vodka shots Wonsik kept buying. WOnsik bought Jaehwan drinks as well, “...just lemonade,” he’d said with a glint in his eye, winking. Jaehwan didn’t really pay much attention to them though, preferring to just lose himself in the hypnotic club music. He wasn’t really a dancer: he liked singing more, but it all had the same effect on him in the end. He zoned out, lost track of time, and even without the alcohol his head felt foggy and dizzy. Briefly, he registered Taemin excusing himself to drunkenly stagger to the bathroom while Wonsik yelled, “USE PROTECTION!”, and the youngest burst out laughing, clinging to Wonsik.

Wonsik just grinned, leading him over to a recently vacated booth in the back corner of the club. “You all good, Jae?” he asked, setting the younger boy down first before sliding in beside him.

“Perfect, Wonsikkie hyunggie~” Jaehwan drawled, not letting go of the older man as he snuggled into his side more.

Wonsik laughed in response, his cheeks glowing red. “Just don’t tell your brother that you had a couple of glasses of vodka and lemonade,” he winked, and Jaehwan giggled. 

“Of cooourse not, hyunggie!” he said sickeningly sweetly, puffing out his cheeks and lower lip. Wonsik cooed, boldly running a hand through the younger’s hair. While alcohol made Wonsik brazen, alcohol obviously made Jaehwan soft and giggly. Not that Wonsik minded. At all.

“Cute,” he slurred a little, continuing to pet Jaehwan’s soft brown hair while the younger still clung onto him. Jaehwan grinned in response, pink dusting his cheeks and lighting up the tip of his nose, eyes curling into crescents. Wonsik could practically feel himself falling.

 

XXX

 

When the bathroom door closed behind Taemin, he leaned up against it, knocking his head hard against the surface. The pain was muted underneath layers of alcohol, numbing his brain and making him feel dizzy and floaty. “Stupid Wonsik, g-giving me too much v-” he hiccuped, “vodka,”  _ Great,  _ apparently talking to himself was something he did when he was drunk.

Taemin assessed himself in the mirror on the opposite wall. He was clearly a lightweight, if anyone couldn’t tell by the state of him. Messy, tangled hair (half of which was falling out of the ponytail he’d put it up in before), hazy unfocused eyes, blotchy skin, and sweat soaking his hairline. His head lolled to the side a little, and his eyes started to close when someone banged on the door behind him. Startled, Taemin shot up, rubbing a hand over his face quickly. “Sorry-” he started, opening the door, but before he could process anything, a black blur slammed into him. A searing pain exploded in the back of his head, and all Taemin could see was bright red for a second before his vision slowly began to clear.

The bathroom had started swirling around, and he blinked a few times, face screwed up in pain that was decidedly not muted by the effects of alcohol. Taemin winced, hissing through the pain. He would’ve collapsed, and couldn’t understand why he hadn’t yet, until he registered the body pressed up against his. He looked up to find a vaguely familiar face staring back down at him, a vicious smirk on his face. 

“So you were the one that got Daeyeon killed, sunshine?” 

The voice sent chills running through him, along with memories of that night. “Uhm, no, no, he started it-” he tried to defend himself, but was answered with a punch in the stomach. Taemin choked, winded, and his body sagged forward onto the man’s, much to both of their own disgust. The man laughed, and Taemin could just hear the smirk in the man’s voice. In a blur, his head was pushed backwards against the wall again. The crack of his head against the tiles resounded through the small bathroom, and Taemin saw double for several seconds before his vision tried to focus again. Red eyes stared down at him, glowing in the dim light. He could feel bile rising in his chest, and he did his best to hold it down, but he was tired - so tired. 

“This is payback,” the man whispered in Taemin’s ear, gripping his hair tighter and pushing his head to the side. Taemin could feel the man’s hot breath on his neck, and he whimpered, but he couldn’t do bring himself to do anything. He had no strength left in his body.

Out of nowhere, a sharp pain pierced through his neck, and Taemin gasped, his whole body immediately tensing and freezing. A few awful seconds passed, and the burning in his neck only seemed to increase. Adrenaline coursed through him, and he tried in vain to push the  _ thing  _ off of him, but it was no use - if anything, it  _ encouraged _ him, and he let out a moan into Taemin’s neck, a spare hand reaching around to grab Taemin’s ass, squeezing tightly. Taemin choked, panic flaring up inside him. He couldn’t move, couldn’t get away, couldn't do anything. He was trapped. He couldn’t call for help -  _ god, you’re so useless you can’t even call Minho or Kibum or Jonghyun for help. Pathetic.  _ He was trapped and -  _ you deserve it -  _ everything hurt  _ \- good -  _ pain, ice cold  _ \- fire - skin burning help someone help someoNE HELP SOMEONEHELPHELPHELP--- _

The panic choked him, and he spluttered, trying to speak, but nothing come out except pitiful stutters and shuddering breaths that verged on hyperventilations--

The sound of the door being broken down startled both Taemin and the thing attacking him, and before Taemin could even process what was happening, the thing was ripped off of him. Taemin dropped to the ground, a pair of arms catching him before he could hit the tiles. There was shouting and multiple people’s voices, and a familiar voice crying, and it all felt so loud in Taemin’s ears. 

“Kibum, M-Minho,” he took a breath. “J-Jong-h-hyun,” he managed, before unconsciousness slammed into him. He could only hope that the three men heard his cry for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
> ig https://www.instagram.com/em13.x
> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
> Please leave a kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe if you want to read more! It helps me update faster.


	8. Let Me Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoongi and Namjoon make their first appearances.   
> The SHINee coven gets a nasty surprise.  
> Jaehwan loses himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys~   
> Sorry, long time no see. I know I use uni as an excuse everytime but it's the truth lol. I do have a 5 week break coming up in a few weeks though so expect lots of content then ;)  
> This chapter's title and song lyrics are more in reference to jaehwan instead of Taemin or any SHINee member in general  
> Trigger warnings for this chapter:  
> Panic attack symptoms 
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me! and thank you for the lovely comments, they literally make my day xx

**Chapter 8: Let Me Out**

 

_"Someone please hold me, I’m exhausted from this world_  
Someone _please wipe me, I’m drenched with tears"_

_Let Me Out, Jonghyun, 2017_

Yoongi was bored.

He was usually bored, to be perfectly honest. And he liked it - he liked just zoning out, going through the motions, only to collapse into his boyfriends’ arms when dawn came. 

He’d only picked up this bouncer job because Namjoon had said that they needed to “keep up appearances” - and that was cool, that was fine. He liked scaring the humans anyway. But the contact lenses itched, and that was annoying.

Wonsik, his human producing buddy, had come in earlier, dragging two friends with him. Yoongi was fond of the guy. While he could be slow to understand sometimes, he was a nice person with decent morals, and Yoongi respected that. Humans like that were becoming increasingly rarer in the 21st century.

In truth, Yoongi really wasn’t expecting anything to happen that night.

He should have known it had been too dull for something not to happen.

He smelt the vampire first, sneering at the scent.  _ Daejung.  _ How the fuck he’d gotten into the club, Yoongi didn’t know. Probably through the back entrance, which was guarded by a human. Alarm bells went off in Yoongi’s head, but he muted them for the moment. 

Daejun was one of the twins that were a part of a ruthless coven that Yoongi’s own coven tried to fuck with as little as possible. They were a disgusting bunch; killing with no regard for human life, killing other weaker vampires for sport, and just being assholes in general. Namjoon made all of them stay away for their own good, and Yoongi would happily oblige. So he let Daejung slip by for now, but  _ how dare that filthy mutt come snooping around my bar, _ Yoongi thought to himself. His anger simmered hot below the surface, but he pushed it down.

It wasn’t until later that everything really went to shit.

Yoongi’s mouth watered out of nowhere; it wasn’t until his brain registered the thick scent of blood in the air mixed with Daejung’s murky scent, and other scents that reminded him of people, especially one that was suspiciously…  _ Wonsik? _

Wasting as little time as possible, Yoongi ran inside, and pushed through the human patrons, ignoring the hands that pushed and pulled his body. He followed the scent as quickly as he could without attracting attention to the fact that he wasn’t human, and the scent drew him to the bathroom. He almost made it, but he stopped in his tracks as he saw Wonsik and one of his friends sitting -  _ cuddling? _ \- in one of the booths at the back. He diverted his course quickly, appearing in front of the light-blue-haired man in a flash.

“Wonsik, where’s your other friend?” Yoongi asked quickly, words coming out in a rush.

“Taeminnie?” Wonsik asked after a second, his brain slow to process what was going on. “He’s in the bathroom, I think,” he slurred, his wide grin disappearing quickly as he noticed the grim and serious look on Yoongi’s face.

Yoongi cursed, grabbing Wonsik’s wrist and pulling him up quickly, dragging the young human towards the bathroom. “Wonsikkie-hyung? What’s going on?” Wonsik’s friend asked, words slurring together. Yoongi’s spared him a quick glance, taking in his hazy eyes and red, ruddied cheeks.  _ Is the boy even legal? Really Wonsik? _

Yoongi tried the door handle to the bathroom, grimacing as it was locked. Putting his shoulder into it, he rammed himself up against the door at full strength, easily knocking the door off of its hinges. The sight that greeted him made him sick to his stomach, and he blocked the doorway with his body as best he could to shield the other two humans.

Daejung,  _ that son of a bitch,  _ had Wonsik’s other friend in his clutches, one hand knotted in the hair on his head and the other wrapped around his body, Daejung’s head nestled unwillingly into the crook of the human’s neck. From the blood running down his neck and front and the human’s pale as ice skin, it didn’t take a genius to know what was going on.

Yoongi jumped into action, ripping the vampire off of the human and snapping his neck quicker than a human blink, tossing the body onto the ground. Looking around quickly, he tore out one of the exposed pipes that connected the bathroom sink to the other plumbing, before stabbing it through Daejung’s stomach. It wouldn’t kill the bastard, but would disable him long enough for Yoongi to deal with after the human had been secured. Turning around, he saw Wonsik catch the human as he fell to the ground, while the other small human stood in the doorway, eyes impossibly wide and tears streaming down his pale cheeks, creating dark trails of makeup sliding down skin. “Hyung,” he croaked out, hands shaking as he fisted the netted material of his top. His crying worsened as he saw the full extent of the damage done, and he started hyperventilating. Yoongi panicked slightly, leaving the younger human and turning to Wonsik. Yoongi’s friend was clearly in shock, tears and face frozen in a mask of terror. Yoongi nudged him away, heart squeezing lightly in sympathy he didn’t know he really had for the human, taking the victim into his arms instead. There was a strange scent about him, he smelt like Wonsik and the other human, but also someone else very familiar. His pulse was weak, and he turned to Wonsik, yelling “Grab my phone front the bar, Wonsik. Quickly! Hurry the fuck up!”

The human in his arms coughed, and Yoongi turned to look down at him. “Kibum, M-Minho, J-Jong-h-hyun,” he whispered almost inaudibly, and recognition slammed into Yoongi. Jinki’s coven - that’s who taemin smelt of. A mixture of warm relief and icy fear injected itself into Yoongi’s veins, juxtaposed to each other; relief that he at least knew the vampires that had staked a claim over the human, but fear of their reaction to the entire incident. 

“Okay, okay,” Yoongi breathed. “I’ll get them,” but the human had already fallen unconscious, Yoongi’s rare words of comfort falling on deaf ears. The blood flow wasn’t stopping, so he stuck his fingers into the bite wounds, applying pressure to make it clot and stop bleeding. Now that he knew this human had already been claimed by another coven. Yoongi was fucking  _ grateful  _ that he hadn’t tried to stop the bleeding a more natural way; that wouldn’t have boded well for him either, knowing how possessive Jinki’s coven could be. He was also grateful that the human had passed out from the pain and blood loss, otherwise he’d probably be screaming in pain from the pressure.

Heavy footfalls signaled Wonsik’s return, and Yoongi stretched out his hand for his phone, pulling back when he felt it’s light weight in his hand. He didn’t have Jinki’s phone number, but he knew someone very well who did.

With one hand, he selected the contact from the top of his call log and held the phone to his ear. 

“Hey Yoongs, what’s-”

Yoongi cut him off. “Joon, get Jinki and his clan to come to the club as soon as fucking possible. Tell them their human is bleeding out.”

XXX

Jinki sighed. He should’ve felt fine, felt  _ normal,  _ but for some odd reason he felt agitated. Kibum shifted on top of him, snuggling into his neck more. While his younger lover didn’t like to admit it, Kibum loved cuddles. It was adorable.

Jonghyun was relaxing on the ground with his back to the couch, while Minho rested his head in the older’s lap. “I’m so excited for tomorrow,” Minho said out of nowhere, grinning widely. “You’ll get to meet Taeminnie!”

_ Nerves, _ is what Jinki chalked it up to, but he nodded nonetheless. “Yes, I guess I will,” he laughed, scratching the back of his neck lightly. “Kibum, what did you say to Taemin again?”

Kibum sighed. “I told him that Minho and I were dating, and that you were dating Jonghyun.”

“I hate lying,” Jonghyun murmured, guilt written over his face.

Jinki’s heart throbbed in empathy. “I know, Jjong, I know. I do too. But we can’t take this to fast - we have plenty of time.”

“I wish we didn’t have to wait,” Minho groaned.

_ Children, _ Jinki thought fondly, a smile on his face. Things were silent for a while after that, before Jonghyun started, “I wonder what kind of-”

But he was cut off in the middle. A loud pounding on the door caused all four vampires to become alert, sitting straight up and freezing. “No one was expecting visitors?” Kibum asked looking around. Silence answered his question for him. The pounding continued, and Jinki could already hear the wooden fibers breaking down and denting inwards around the strong fists that just kept going. 

Jinki stood up. “Stay here,” he commanded, eyes flashing. The other three vampires obeyed him, staying put. Jonghyun bit on his lip anxiously while Minho and Kibum had stoney looks on their faces. 

Jinki flashed towards the door, stopping just before it. “Who is it?” he asked, knowing full well that the only kinds of creatures that could find their place were ones that would be able to hear him.

“Namjoon,” came the reply, and Jinki relaxed somewhat, before opening the door. The sorcery that held the locks together dissipated at his touch, and he caught sight of Namjoon. The younger coven leader’s eyes were glowing bright green, brighter than usual, and he had a grim look on his face which made Jinki tense up again. 

“What is it?” Jinki started, but Namjoon interrupted him.

“No time. Yoongi called. Your human was attacked.”

Jinki froze, blood running cold. In half a second, his three coven members appeared behind him, with looks of shock and anguish on their faces. “Where?” Kibum managed to choke out. “We need to go  _ now.” _

XXX

Jaehwan was in shock. Well, that statement might have been an understatement. Pair that with the fact that he was emotionally over-sensitive: he was in hell right now.

When he’d been dragged out of the booth by Wonsik towards the bathroom, he’d sobered up quickly. The fog hanging over his brain was overtaken by anxiety, and everything went from fuzzy and blurry to ultra sharp and focussed in literally two seconds. It was disorienting and frightening and he didn’t know what was going on.

When Wonsik’s friend had opened the bathroom door, everything was a blur again, and he blinked a few times to clear his vision. He was greeted with the sight of a dead-looking body on the other side of the bathroom, while Taemin was leaning against a wall, skin worryingly pale, eyes unfocused but wide with panic, and blood dripping down his neck and down the front of his shirt. His hyung fell to the ground suddenly, into Wonsik’s arms, and the massive wound is his neck shone wetly in the tinny, fluorescent lighting. “Hyung?” Jaehwan croaked out, feeling the tears dripping down his cheeks one after the other, coating his face. He fisted the material of his shirt nervously. Taemin’s eyes flickered to him for a brief moment, and the pain in them made Jaehwan cry out. Everything blurred out again.

Yeah, Jaehwan was used to blurring out - it made things easier when he pretended not to care. But this was worse. He couldn’t numb the pain and hurt and anxiety he felt. It was like being trapped inside a Coke bottle - everything he could see was blurry and distorted, like he was removed from the outside world, but his emotions still blazed wildly within him, fizzing up and over. He could vaguely hear someone shouting at someone else, and what seemed like an hour later (but was in reality only a few minutes) there were more people in the room. There was loud noises and shouting and they all crowded around something, probably Taemin, some reasonable part of Jaehwan’s brain thought. But Jaehwan wanted to yell at them all to go away, to leave his brother alone because  _ oh god he’s suffered enough already, just leave him the fuck ALONE GOD DAMN IT you’re making it WORSE--  _

_ - _ but he couldn’t. His mouth was locked shut with an invisible glue. He could still feel tears leaking out of his eyes - his face was probably drenched now. He could feel himself breathing heavily, the panic in his veins kicking his heart and lungs into overdrive. Would he explode?  _ If I exploded I’d be dead. I’d gladly take death over this any day. Please, let me die. _

A hand on his shoulder and another cupping his jaw grounded him, and he looked up. Wonsik came into focus, while everything else was still blurred out.  _ Wonsik is in the Coke bottle too?  _ Jaehwan laughed at the thought.  _ That’s funny, he’s way too big to be in here too!  _ Wonsik’s eyes widened with worry.

“Hey, Jyani, can you look at me for a minute?” Wonsik asked slowly, trying to bring the younger back to reality. He tapped the side of the younger’s face, fingertips growing wet with Jaehwan’s tears as they skimmed over his skin. “Just listen to my voice and look at me. Can you do that?”

Jaehwan shook his head aimlessly, looking down. He giggled again, the end of it trailing off into a small sob. “What’s even the point?” he whispered. 

Panic flared up inside Wonsik, and he bit down on his lip. “I’m worried and scared too, you know,” he started. He kept stroking Jaehwan’s cheek. “But some of Taemin’s friends came to help him. To take him to the hospital, I think. He’ll be okay,”  _ I hope, _ he added silently on the end. Wonsik tried his best to choke back his own tears; it hurt him that Jaehwan was hurting so much.

“I’m just so scared,” Jaehwan whispered. “I don’t want to be left alone again,” he looked up at Wonsik. Black was smeared around his eyes, dark trails leading downwards. His eyes were red rimmed and glassy.

Wonsik forced himself to smile. “I’m here, aren’t I?” he asked, using the back of his hand to start wiping the mess off of Jaehwan’s face. “Taemin will be okay. You’ll be okay too. But right now you need rest. Should I take you back to your place?”

Jaehwan shook his head. “Don’t leave me.”

Wonsik smiled sadly. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
> ig https://www.instagram.com/em13.x
> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
> Please leave a kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe if you want to read more! It helps me update faster.


	9. I'm Crying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The coven waits for Taemin.  
> Wonsik is hiding something.  
> Jinki meets Taemin for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really can't keep to a schedule can I  
> fml  
> ANYWAY I survived my first semester of University???! What!?!?!?  
> I'm waiting to get my final grades back now so that's nerve wracking :/  
> So now I have like 5 weeks off - I'm gonna try to write a lot more, I promise!!!   
> I'm motivated - this shit is getting goooooood
> 
> ALSO SHINee's LATEST COMEBACK????!?!?!?!?! KINGS ONLY  
> And they're dropping their next mv in 2 days..... excuse me I wasn't ready for all this greatness  
> Stan SHINee - stan talent <3  
> What's your opinion of their latest comeback? Are you excited for their 2nd one?
> 
> No trigger warnings for this chapter - just wanted to let you know though there are mentions of panic attacks but nothing detailed.  
> flashback section is in italics :)
> 
> I'm putting up a poll on twitter for the next chapter to see whose POV you guys want for a large section - this of course excludes Taemin and the rest of SHINee. VOTE HERE: https://twitter.com/emodreamer13/status/1005298480208699392  
> Don't leave me hanging guys :')

**Chapter 9 - I'm Crying**

_"In the settling silence, in the empty room_   
_I hear my ringing heartbeat_   
_As if it’s singing out of loneliness"_

_I'm Crying, Taemin 2017_

Jonghyun sat beside the large bed, back hunched over as he held his forehead in his hands. He hadn’t felt  _ this  _ bad in a long time. Kibum’s hand gently gripped the back of his exposed neck, fingers digging slightly into his skin. He wouldn’t admit it to the younger vampire, but it really did relax him a lot. Minho sat on the other side of the bed on a matching chair, legs and arms crossed with a grim, concerned look on his face. Jinki sat beside him, an arm wrapped around the younger’s waist while the other lay limply at his side. 

They’d been like this for the past 14 hours.

Jonghyun counted the seconds as they dragged past. He wasn’t in shock - no, that had passed momentarily. He just felt tired, so tired - that was mostly due to the sun that was probably passing right through the middle of the sky; he couldn’t exactly tell, since they were in the underground part of their home, hidden from those deadly rays.  Jonghyun felt sad as well; sad for the pain Taemin had gone through, sad and angry that the human probably had no idea what was going on, what had happened to him. 

Jonghyun dreaded telling him everything.

He pushed that thought out of his head, but the quiet that filled the empty space blared loud static in his ears. The four vampires were silent, the only sound being Taemin’s quiet breathing, and it drove Jonghyun insane. So, with nothing better to do, he cast his mind back, rewinding the hours to the horrific event.

 

_ Jonghyun felt like he was going to throw up, an experience he hadn’t felt for hundreds of years. The five vampires - Jonghyun and his three lovers plus Namjoon - had flickered away immediately, becoming nothing but a pigmented blur in the night. The club was a few kilometers away, but they got there within minutes, rushing in immediately. The other bouncer - not Yoongi - let them in, recognising Namjoon quickly, and as the five rushed in the smell of blood was thick in the air. It was instantly recognisable to Kibum and Jonghyun as Taemin’s blood, and as Jonghyun looked over to Kibum, he saw the younger’s eyes flash and harden with anger.  _

_ Kibum shouldered past Namjoon and Jinki, taking the lead as he stormed towards the back of the club where the bathrooms were located. He barged into the open one, almost knocking over the young human who was sitting, curled up against the wall. Jonghyun followed behind him quickly, trying to compose himself, but the sight of Taemin made him fall apart. The human was tucked in his coworker, Wonsik’s arms (Jonghyun recognised him from the work selfies Taemin would occasionally send) while Yoongi, one of Namjoon’s coven, sat beside the pair, his fingers stuck in the messy bite wounds. Jonghyun could see the blood has already started to congeal and thicken, but there was a mass amount of blood staining his neck and front still, some even reaching up to coat the underside of his jaw.  _

_ Jonghyun found himself shaking with anger. Yoongi looked up and met his eyes, nodding his chin slightly to the other end of the bathroom, where the cubicles were. On the ground lay the vampire that had attacked Taemin - and he bore a striking resemblance to the piece of shit who had attacked Taemin the first time; Daeyeon.  _ So this ass must be Daejung,  _ Jonghyun thought to himself. The bastard was lying face up on the tiles, a pipe (once dirty white, now blood stained) stuck off center in his stomach. His face was twisted in agony in unconsciousness.  _ Good,  _ Jonghyun thought.  _ We aren’t done with you yet. 

_ Jinki must have had the same thought, as he motioned his head towards Minho before nodding at Daejung. Minho cracked his knuckles, face set in stone. He walked over and picked the vampire up by the neck, holding him away from his body as if he was diseased.  _

_ Kibum had dropped to his knees beside Yoongi, and Jonghyun joined them, taking one of Taemin’s limp hands in his. His skin was so cold, and it shook Jonghyun to the bone how close they’d come to losing him so fast. Jonghyun felt Jinki stand behind him. “We’ll take him from here,” he said, his voice leaving no room for argument. Jonghyun turned and looked up at their leader, before being struck with a heartbreaking thought:  _ this is the first time Jinki has actually seen Taemin in the flesh.  _ That fact filled him with sadness as he took in Jinki’s cold, angry eyes - they were somewhat empty.  _

_ Yoongi nodded, taking his fingers out of Taemin’s neck. Jinki quickly replaced them with his own, before attempting to pick their mate up. There was obviously some resistance though, as he stopped and looked at the human - Wonsik - who still hadn’t let go of Taemin, a hand holding the back of his shirt. _

_ “Let go,” Jinki said firmly, but not unkindly.  _

_ “You’re vampires, right?” Wonsik asked, brows furrowed together and face pale. He swallowed loudly and Yoongi coughed, and all the vampires turned to look at Yoongi.  _

_ “We’ve been friends for ages,” Yoongi mumbled. “He’s known for a while now. He had to find out sometime,” he said, looking up but only finding Namjoon’s eyes.  _

_ Jinki replied to Wonsik’s question with a single nod. Wonsik sighed. “Just,” he started, faltering a little. “Just be careful with him, okay?” _

_ Jonghyun forced a smile. “Of course,” he answered for Jinki, and Wonsik smiled at him gratefully.  _

_ “I’ll take care of Jaehwan,” Wonsik said. When Jonghyun raise an eyebrow, Wonsik was quick to answer “Taemin’s younger brother,” looking behind all of the vampires to the human huddling in the corner. He looked like he was seconds away from a panic attack. Jonghyun’s heart ached in sympathy.  _

_ Jinki nodded. “Thank you,” and Wonsik nodded in reply, letting go of Taemin with much effort. As soon as Jinki had Taemin safely in his arms, the four vampires had flickered out of the club and back towards their home, their mate and their hostage in tow. _

 

“How much longer?” Minho asked, voice shattering the noisy silence that seemed to be permanent. 

Jinki sighed. “He lost a lot of blood,” he started. “When he replenishes a healthy amount, then he’ll wake up.”

“What are we gonna tell him?” Kibum asked. 

“That a crazy guy attacked him,” Jinki replied. “It’s difficult, but we can’t scare him off just yet,”

Jonghyun started grinding his teeth together. “I just, hate lying to him,” he said, eyes downcast. He felt incredibly guilty, although he knew deep down it was for the best. 

“We can’t hide it forever,” Kibum agreed.

Jinki sighed again, exasperated. “I know that, trust me I do. But right now it’s important that he’s healthy and safe, and that he’s comfortable with us. That doesn’t mean we can’t spend time with him - it just means we shouldn’t rush head-first into this.”

 

XXX

 

_ Teeth. _

They were all Taemin could see, could feel, could dream about. Sharp, blunt,  _ digging  _ into skin, ripping it open. Rivers of red sliding down ice, permanent stains left behind, no amount of scrubbing that could remove them. Scars like brands - blaring, painful, obvious. And pain - fiery and icy, hell-hot and freezing becoming one and the same: all-consuming.

These thoughts haunted Taemin through unconsciousness. They chased him, taunted him as he ran away, unseeing, into blackness. And when he finally tumbled down, breathless, they ate him alive before burying him in their remains. And then he woke up. And it all started again.

That was, until, he woke up not to blackness, but to a light blue ceiling he knew he hadn’t seen before. 

Taemin blinked a few times, his eyes dry and itchy from being closed for so long. He muscles were starting to cramp up to, so he rolled his shoulders, hissing as pain lanced up through his neck. All he could see was white for a moment before the pain laid its head back down, retreating, and he sighed outwards.

Suddenly, a head appeared over top of his own. Unmistakable purple eyes studied him carefully, worry etched into them. “Taemin? You’re awake!”

“Jonghyun?” Taemin croaked out, voice hoarse and throat scratchy. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re in our house,” Came another voice, and another head appeared in Taemin’s vision. 

“Minho?” Taemin asked, happy but confused. “Why I am here?”

“Well,” Jonghyun started. “You got attacked by some man at that club two days ago. Yoongi, the bouncer, called us to come and get you.”

“But I don’t even know Yoongi,” Taemin said after a few seconds, confusion evident on his face. “How would he know to call you?”

Jonghyun turned to Minho, and Minho smiled in response. “Oh, well, he saw our contacts in your phone and recognised our numbers, so he just called us straight away,” 

Taemin nodded. “I guess… I guess that makes sense,”

“Oh! And Wonsik, your friend, took your brother home. He was kind of,” Jonghyun paused, searching for the right words. “really upset, when you were attacked.”

Taemin’s eyes widened with worry. “Oh no,” he whispered, gulping. Jaehwan didn’t deal well with violence and blood - he never had, not after the abuse their father had put them through years prior. He knew that Jaehwan had probably started to spiral, and that guilt and worry hung heavy in his chest. “Can I have my phone so I can call him? Please,” he tacked on the end.

“Sure!” Minho smiled, darting away for a moment and returning with Taemin’s phone. 

He handed it to him and Taemin accepted it with a grateful “Thanks,” before opening it and selecting Jaehwan’s number from his contact list. He held it up to his ear, trying to contain the small wince that came with lifting his arm up. By the way Jonghyun’s eyes flashed slightly, Taemin knew he heard it, so he averted his eyes, choosing to look at the ceiling instead. 

Jaehwan picked up on the third ring. “Taeminnie hyung?” he asked immediately, voice wavering. 

Taemin felt his smile wavering. “Hey, Jyani,” Muffled sobs crackled through the receiver, and Taemin bit down hard on his lip. “Are you okay?”

“I- I should be asking you that!”

“Well, I’m fine, just,” Taemin searched for the right words. “Tired.”

“I was so scared,” Taemin could just make out Jaehwan’s watery whisper, before the phone crackled again and Wonsik’s voice rumbled through the receiver. 

“Hey Minnie.”

“Hey, Wonsikkie,” Taemin sighed, and he felt his lip wobbling more.

“Don’t worry, I’m looking after Jaehwannie. He’s, well, kind of coping. He had a panic attack when we found you, I thought he was gonna relapse further but I got him to calm down in time,” Wonsik said, and Taemin could hear the hesitations in his voice, the way he picked his words ever so carefully. “How are you doing?”

“Well, as good as I can be,” Taemin tried to smile but it turned out like more of a grimace. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jonghyun’s brow furrow, before Minho pulled Jonghyun out of the room and shut the door quietly behind them. Taemin was alone, and all of his emotional weight just fell off of his shoulders. “It hurt so much, Wonsik,” he sniffed, eyes watering quickly. “I don’t even understand what happened. What did you see?”

Wonsik took a breath in, hesitating for a few seconds - Taemin noticed. “I don’t know what they told you, but you were attacked in the bathroom. Yoongi - my friend, the bouncer - found you, and you asked him to call Jonghyun and his friends. Luckily Yoongi knew them and called them from your phone,” 

There was something in his voice though - something that he wasn’t telling Taemin. “Wonsik, is that what really happened?” Taemin bit down on his lip.

“Of course,” Wonsik answered. “I’m just still… shaken up about it,” 

 

XXX

 

Minho closed the door behind Jonghyun, and turned to Kibum and Jinki, who were waiting outside. “Do you think Wonsik will say anything?”

“I doubt it,” Jinki started. “I bet Hakyeon told him not to say anything.”

“I don’t trust him,” Kibum butted in. “What are the chances - I mean, we didn’t even know this human had ties with Hakyeon’s coven until yesterday. What if they’ve been planning to lay a claim on him all this time-”

“I already checked with Hakyeon,” Jinki interrupted, laying a hand on Kibum’s shoulder. “They’re not interested in Taemin. Wonsik and Taemin are just friends.”

Kibum swallowed. “It just makes me uneasy,” he admitted, frowning. “I don’t like the idea of him being taken away.”

“I don’t think anyone likes that idea, Bummie,” Jonghyun smiled. He tilted his head to the side slightly, “I think he’s done on the phone now, should we introduce you to him properly?” He asked Jinki.

Jinki nodded, rolling his eyes. “Finally, it’s not like I’ve been waiting forever or anything,” but there were hints of nervousness on his face.

“It’ll be fine, hyung,” Minho reassured him, before knocking on the door to the bedroom. 

“Come in,” they heard Taemin’s voice call from inside the bedroom, and Minho opened the door to find Taemin rubbing his eyes while sitting on the bed, phone thrown down beside him. The human lit up, however, when he spotted Kibum standing right behind Minho. “Kibum!” he exclaimed happily, and said vampire’s face lit up. 

“Hey, Taemin,” he grinned, stepping inside. Jonghyun followed him, and Jinki came in last. 

“Taemin, this is Jinki,” Jonghyun introduced their leader, and Jinki stepped forward, smiling nervously. 

“Hey Taemin, it’s nice to finally meet you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
> ig https://www.instagram.com/em13.x
> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
> Please leave a kudos/comment/bookmark/subscribe if you want to read more! It helps me update faster.


	10. Orbit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taemin is made aware of something he never would've guessed.  
> Wonsik meets a very... special... guest.  
> Jaehwan loses it a bit.  
> Jimin is kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated this week! Yay you guys don't have to wait~  
> I think I'm just gonna try and update weekly, no specific day bc that pressures me a lot more.  
> Hope you don't mind~  
> And thank you for all the support! We're almost at 1K reads wow <3
> 
> Trigger warning: reference to past self harm - very very vague, not that noticeable but it's there.  
> Stay safe kiddos~ if you ever want to talk contact me at any of my socials in the end note xxx

**Chapter 10 - Orbit**

__ "There’s a universe filled in your eyes  
The moment our eyes electrically meet  
The tip of my ears felt a zap, the stars have twinkled" 

_ Orbit, Jonghyun 2016 _

Jinki stepped forward, and Taemin was mesmerized. The man sported a wide grin on his face, full of warmth. His eyes -  _ purple again,  _ he noted - were warm too, as they crinkled upwards. Jinki just looked  _ soft - like an attractive teddy bear,  _ his mind supplied. He looked warm, and friendly, and cute, the kind of person you’d want to come home to after a long day of work. Someone who’d always listen to you and who you trusted to take care of you - that’s the kind of person he looked like. 

“Oh, um, hi,” Taemin started, and he could feel the blush rising on his cheeks. He blew his hair out of his eyes. “It’s, um, nice to meet you too? I’ve heard a lot about you,” his eyes flickered over to Jonghyun. “You’re Jonghyun’s b-boyfriend, right?” Taemin tripped over the word, and flushed, looking downwards.  _ Idiot, _ the voice that he hadn’t heard since the attack snarled at him.  _ Of course he’s taken, the hot ones are  _ always  _ taken.  _

What Taemin didn’t see was the uneasy glances the four others shared with each other. There was a thick, heavy silence for a few minutes, before Kibum’s voice interrupted the silence. 

“Actually, that’s one of the things we were gonna tell you about,” he started, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He leaned forward as if to lay a hand on Taemin’s ankle but hesitated a little, before pulling back and sighing. “We’re actually, uh, all? In a relationship?” 

Taemin blinked. And blinked again.

“W-what?”

“We’re poly,” Minho replied, although his voice was more subdued than usual. “So, all four of us are going out with each other.”

“You’re all… boyfriends?” Taemin swallowed, eyes darting from one man to the next. 

Jonghyun sucked in a breath. “Pretty much. You don’t have a problem with that, do you, Taem?” 

The nickname struck a chord in Taemin’s heart, and he coughed a little. Jonghyun held his gaze, not blinking, and Taemin stared back. “Oh, um, n-no, I was just… surprised, is all. It’s, well, not really normal,”

“‘Not normal’ doesn’t mean bad,” Jinki commented, smiling gently. 

“Oh no, I didn’t mean that-” Taemin started, but Jinki interrupted him before he could say something else.

“We know, we know. Relax - it’s a lot to take in. We get it,” he laughed at the end, before leaning forwards and pushing a stray piece of hair behind Taemin’s ear. Taemin’s heart stuttered in his chest and he forgot to breath momentarily as Jinki’s hand came into contact with his skin. He felt tingles spark across the his skin and fought back a shiver, not breaking eye contact with Jinki. There was just something about him that made Taemin feel incredibly safe and secure, a feeling Taemin himself hadn’t felt in a long, long time. 

Their moment was broken though when Jinki pulled back, and Taemin turned his attention to the bed sheets again. He caught Minho and Kibum holding hands out of the corner of his eyes, and his heart twisted strangely.

“You still wanna be friends with us, right?” Jonghyun asked. Taemin turned to him - the older man had something similar to hope in his eyes. 

“Of course, hyung,” Taemin answered after a beat, and Jonghyun’s face broke into a large grin. Taemin smiled back, but there was a part of him that was forcing it.

_ You can never have what they have. _

And he accepted it.

 

XXX

 

When Wonsik ended up leaving the Lee’s apartment to pick up some of his own clothes and necessities, the last person he expected to encounter found him. 

Just as he climbed up the stairs to his own apartment, he found a figure in a large sweatshirt with the hood pulled up standing outside his door. Wonsik swallowed thickly, before stepping forward. “Uh, hello?” he started, gripping his keys tightly in his fist so he could use it in self defense if the need arose. So much shit had happened lately - he didn’t want to take the chance. 

“Wonsik,” started the familiar voice, and Wonsik relaxed, dropping his defensive position. “I was starting to wonder when you’d come back.”

“What the hell are you even doing here?” Wonsik drawled, stepping forward to open the door. “Someone could have seen you.”

There came a familiar slight sting to the back of his neck, and Wonsik scowled. “That’s why I wore a hood.” Came the annoyed reply from behind him.

“Can you stop neck-chopping me??”

“Pssh. It’s a sign of affection.”

Wonsik turned around just as the figure pulled down their hood to reveal none other than Cha Hakyeon.   
Wonsik’s relationship with Cha Hakyeon was a long one. Or it seemed like it, anyway. The two had met when Wonsik was 16, when he was still in school and street busking for money since no one was willing to hire a scruffy 16 year old anyway. They’d bonded over dancing when Hakyeon kept coming to watch him busk, day after day. It had been Hakyeon who’d introduced him to Yoongi, a fellow producer, and the man had taught him everything he knew. 

It had also been Hakyeon who’d introduced him to the world of vampires.

When Wonsik first found out, he’d been terrified. Intrigued and impossibly curious, but terrified nonetheless. It took countless promises from Hakyeon for Wonsik to even consider letting him in his apartment (and life) again, but now he was glad that he did. 

Hakyeon’s gaze softened. “I was worried about you,” 

Wonsik sighed, before stepping forward and winding his arms around the vampire’s waist, head resting on his shoulder. “I know you were,”

Hakyeon’s solid warmth was grounding - it never changed, never wavered. He was a blinding torch in the darkness that seemed to permeate Wonsik’s life, and he was thankful for it. Hakyeon pushed Wonsik off of his shoulder gently, bringing a hand to his jaw and leading the human’s face towards his own.

Wonsik had to admit - even for a vampire, Hakyeon’s lips were soft. Kissing Hakyeon was easy - he wasn’t like Taekwoon, who treated him like glass. He wasn’t like Hongbin, who always tried to fight for dominance, even though he only won half the time. And he wasn’t like Sanghyuk, who was always a tease in the beginning but provided comfort and security in the end. No, Hakyeon was easy like a summer day; no rush, no fight, just lazy strokes of lips and tongues. That was, until, things got heated and his lips started to scorch, leaving passionate burns over his mouth and neck and chest - 

But that was for another day, when Wonsik actually had the energy to reciprocate. Right now Hakyeon provided him with everything he could handle and nothing more - he never did expect more than what was possible from Wonsik, and that was something he was eternally grateful for.

Wonsik pulled away. “I’m worried about Jaehwan,” he admitted to Hakyeon. Guilt rose in his chest and throat like heartburn. Wonsik tended to keep things he was unsure about locked inside of him - he never really liked sharing problems, since he wanted to keep his strong facade intact. But Hakyeon usually saw through it. Key word:  _ usually. _

Ever since he’d met Jaehwan when Taemin had started working at the convenience store, Wonsik had felt that indescribable pull to the younger. He tried to hide his attraction, but at times he felt like he was totally transparent. There was just something about Jaehwan, and he didn’t know  _ what. _ Maybe it was the way he cared so much for his brother, or the way he always tried to crack jokes and make other people smile with his cute antics. Maybe it was his beautiful voice that Wonsik had had the privilege of listening to a few times. Or maybe it was the way he looked fragile and strong at the same time, a rare duality that seemed impossible but somehow was possible - when it came to Jaehwan, at least. 

He knew Hakyeon knew he’d been acting strangely; pulling away from kisses too early, acting distant at times over text messages. He didn’t want to worry Hakyeon and the others, but everything felt wrong - like he was cheating on his boyfriends. He tried to push Jaehwan away, but every time he tried it was like fate or something dragged them closer. It was downright maddening.

“Taemin’s brother?” Hakyeon asked, and Wonsik squeezed his eyes shut. 

“I just… he was so scared when everything happened. And he’s hiding something. I know he is.”  _ And I’m very much in like with him while I’m in love with you and the rest of your coven. _ “I just don’t know what to do.”

It was like Hakyeon heard the unspoken words. His lips pursed slightly, but his eyes softened, molten gold swirling in his irises. “It’s okay,” he murmured, pulling Wonsik to his chest. “Everything will work out.”

Wonsik hoped it did. He also hoped Hakyeon didn’t see the hot tears that fell down his cheeks - a mix of anxiety and guilt.

 

XXX

 

It probably wasn’t a great idea to leave Jaehwan by himself - even he could admit that. But the call he’d gotten from Taemin before Wonsik left briefly had helped to calm him down, and for the mean time, he felt himself stop spiralling. 

Wonsik had called it PTSD and separation anxiety - Jaehwan called it hell.

Jaehwan never really liked violence - he just didn’t see the appeal in it, the way he didn’t see the appeal in smoking, or drugs. Just another way to distract oneself from the shitshow called life - but he could relate to that ideology, he supposed.

His arms itched. He pulled his sleeves around his wrists more.  _ Not again. _

Wonsik had been close to finding out. Jaehwan couldn’t afford to let anyone see.

He just wanted Taemin to come back. He wanted his hyung. He wanted things to go back to normal, before Taemin got attacked at work constantly, before he felt himself going down the plug hole.

Jaehwan sighed, pulling the blanket he was underneath over his shoulders more. He couldn’t stop feeling cold - it made its home in his bones, freezing him from the inside out. 

_ Is it too much to ask to just be okay? To be normal? _

His thoughts were interrupted by the vibrating of his cellphone.

_ Jimin. _

Jaehwan set the phone down beside him. He had to be okay. He  _ had  _ to be. If not for his sake, then Taemin’s and Jimin’s and even Wonsik’s.

_ So you’re just gonna bottle everything up inside like usual, huh? Until you eventually crack? _

“Yes,” Jaehwan whispered, shrugging the blanket off and looking down at the sleeves covering his arms. He pulled them upwards to make sweaterpaws - cute. He forced a smile. It hurt, but it was bearable.

_ Just numb out and smile? Act cute and funny? _

“Yes,” he repeated to himself, grin stretching across his face.

_ Sounds like a great plan to me, _ the voice in his head chuckled, and Jaehwan laughed too.

 

XXX

 

“So,” Taemin started, combing his fingers through his hair. “What’s actually wrong with me? Why do I have to stay here for the next few days?”

“You lost a lot of blood - so you have to wait until your body replenishes its supply. You also have a lot of bruising around your neck and stomach, which probably hurts a lot.” Jinki answered from his seat beside Taemin’s bed. The four men hadn’t left Taemin’s side since they’d broken the news to him - and in truth, Taemin was grateful for that for reasons he couldn’t quite comprehend.

“When do you think it’ll go down?”

“Hmm, maybe a week, I’m not too sure. Do you mind if I check?”

“Uh, sure,” Taemin answered, a little flustered. Jinki stood up and leaned over the bed, where Taemin was lying down. He gently pulled the borrowed sweatshirt up, exposing Taemin’s stomach. Taemin blushed, closing his eyes - he could feel the stares of all four men on his exposed skin, and while he felt a little uncomfortable, it didn’t feel intrusive, but strangely… intimate?  _ Hell no, stop jumping to conclusions,  _ his brain told him. Suddenly Jinki’s fingers lightly prodded along his hip bone, and Taemin jolted at the initial contact, shivering.

“Sensitive?” Jinki asked jokingly, but Taemin didn’t miss the slight tone in his voice that suggested he wasn’t just joking.  _ Or maybe you just imagined it. _

“Yeah,” Taemin answered honestly, and maybe it was just his imagination again, but he  _ swore  _ he heard someone inhale a little too quickly and deeply.

Jinki cleared his throat, and after prodding around the mess of bruises scattered across Taemin’s stomach, he pulled the sweatshirt back down. “Yeah, they should clear up in a couple of weeks. They’ll hopefully stop hurting in a few days, though.”

“That means we get to take care of you until you’re well enough to go home!” Jonghyun exclaimed, leaning forwards and placing his elbows on the mattress, chin cradled in his hands. 

Taemin giggled at that - he knew Jonghyun was the second oldest out of the four men, but he was too cute to be older than Kibum and Minho. “I guess it does,” he agreed. 

“If there’s anything you want or need, just ask us,” Kibum said, surprising Taemin with his seriousness. “Money is not an object.”

“There’s one thing we want to ask of you, though,” Jinki added, and Taemin turned to him, smiling.

“Anything!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...things startin to get a lil bit spicy ;)
> 
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	11. Wishful Thinking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The SHINee boys have some bonding time.  
> Taemin makes a change.  
> There's something coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this?!? 3rd update in a row that's kinda on time?!  
> Yeah, for now let's make updates on Fridays NZ time. It's a lot easier for me atm haha  
> This may change once next semester starts, since my timetable will change :')  
> Oh! THANK YOU FOR 1K+ HITS! That's nuts??! Thank you so much~ xxx  
> Please let me know in the comments if you're enjoying the story so far - I'm not sure about the pacing of it. Too fast? Too slow? Please let me know! Is there anything you'd like to see or see more of?
> 
> Enjoy! Slight violence at the end xx

**Chapter 11 - Wishful Thinking**

_"I believe in wishful thinking_   
_What are you doing? Who are you smiling at?_   
_Your wistful feeling, I’m obsessed with it"_

_Wishful Thinking, SHINee - 2016_

“Quit your job.”

“What?” Taemin asked, a little dumbstruck. Jinki’s face seemed serious - not mean, just simply matter-of-fact. “Why?”

“It’s too dangerous. We don’t want you to get hurt.” Jinki replied, and his eyes flashed with an emotion Taemin was too scared to try and name.

Taemin’s heart ached. _They actually care about me in some capacity,_ he thought to himself. _But I can’t._ “I don’t think I can do that,” he started, looking at the sheets he twisted between his fingers. “I need the money for my brother, and to pay rent.”

“We’ll pay for all of that,” Kibum offered, and when Taemin went to meet his eyes, the shining purple seemed somewhat genuine.

“Wait, what? Why?” Taemin asked, but before any of the others could answer, he continued, “I can’t let you do that, it’s not fair to you guys.”

Kibum laughed. “I was serious when I sad that money isn’t an object to us. We have more than we know what to do with. But we do want to make sure that you’re safe and financially stable.”

“But…” Taemin trailed off. “Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jonghyun asked, grinning. “We care about you - alot. It’s admirable how you work so hard for Jaehwan, but it’s important that you’re safe and can try to follow your dreams too.”

And with that, it started to make sense to Taemin - how Jonghyun had often asked about his job and what he really wanted to do via text, and how those questions never really stopped. “That’s honestly too kind of you, all of you,” Taemin started, quite lost for words. “But you must want something in return?”

Minho laughed at that. “We just want you to be happy,” he said, and Taemin felt himself tearing up.

A tear ran down his cheek, and he hung his head down. Kindness wasn’t something he was used to at all - and while he wasn’t proud to accept charity, he felt almost obligated to since he already cared about the four men, and they obviously cared about him too. “Why are you all so nice?” he asked, and suddenly there was a pair of arms wrapped around him.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Came Jonghyun’s voice very close to his ear, and Taemin rested his forehead against the older man’s shoulder.

“Hyung,” he whispered. “Thank you. Honestly. Thank you so much.”

He could almost imagine Jonghyun smiling. Taemin pulled back, but was stopped by Jonghyun’s hand on his shoulder. The older man pressed a light kiss to the top of Taemin’s head. And Taemin could feel himself blushing. _It means nothing,_ he told himself, but there was also a very big part of him that wanted it to mean a lot more.

“Your happiness and wellbeing always comes first,” Jonghyun whispered back, before ruffling Taemin’s hair and grinning. “Besides, now we’ll have more time to hang out!”

“I guess we will,” Taemin agreed, laughing as he rubbed his eyes. He looked up to see the four men smiling at him, and warmth filled his heart. It felt like _home._

 

XXX

 

A week passed. And then another, and another.

Before Taemin knew it, almost a month had passed since he quit his job and had joined a dance studio. Minho had actually pushed him to audition for it - he knew the owner, an ever-happy man named Hoseok, who asked everyone to call him Hobi instead - and much to Taemin’s surprise, he was accepted almost immediately. It was also surprisingly easy to make friends with other dancers in the group - there were a few dancers who were younger than him that he got close to quite quickly, namely Jisung, Ten and Lucas. They only practiced in the afternoon after school, but it was nice to have great company. They were all fun to get along with, and while the studio didn’t pay much, Taemin found himself not minding at all. The money from Jinki, Kibum, Minho and Jonghyun was more than enough to get by, and while Taemin didn’t like accepting money from them, he was so damn grateful that he could do a job he loved doing and not have to worry about his financial situation. He could feel the difference within him as well; he was actually excited to go and practice, and didn’t feel that same numbing dread he always felt when he was about to leave to work at the convenience store. He was happy, for once, and that simple fact made him feel impossibly light and free.

It was a Friday night, and after a long day of practice, Taemin was exhausted. Everyone was exhausted. But it was a good kind of feeling - he felt tired down to his bones, but he knew it was worth it. They’d been spending the last week practicing a new background routine for a rookie singer, and it was _hard._ But Taemin thought he’d finally mastered it, and couldn’t wait to start performing it the next week on music shows. It was a literal dream come true - he was going to be on TV! It seemed so surreal, but it was happening - the first stepping stone.

The crew was lying around on the floor of the small practice studio. Taemin was sweating profusely, his back sticking to the floor. Lucas had chucked a towel at his head, and he hadn’t bothered to remove it, letting it soak up all the excess sweat on his face.

“Taemin!” Hoseok suddenly called out. “Your brother is here!”

Taemin pulled the towel off his face quickly and pushed himself up from the floor, only to be thrown to the ground again by his younger brother’s weight. Taemin grunted in pain, while Jaehwan just laughed. “Hey, Lucas!”

“Yo, Jae,” Lucas replied, and Taemin fought hard to keep the cringe off of his face.

“You’re not even going to say hi to me?” Taemin asked. “Rude,”

“Hey, Taeminnie hyung!” Jaehwan just grinned down at him. Taemin rolled his eyes in mock annoyance, trying hard to keep the smile off of his face. He pushed the younger off of him, standing up properly this time, before going over to retrieve his bag. When he turned back, he saw Jaehwan talking animatedly with Lucas and Ten, and the sight couldn’t conceal his genuine smile. He didn’t often see Jaehwan interacting with people his own age, so it was a sight that made him extremely happy.

“Ready to go?” he called out to the younger, and Jaehwan bounced up, saying goodbye to the others and walking over to Taemin.

“Good work today, Taeminnie!” Hoseok called out from where he was sitting against one of the floor to ceiling mirrors.

“Thanks, hyung,” he grinned, before waving goodbye to everyone.

The warm, humid air of the studio was a sharp contrast to the cool night air. It stung Taemin’s damp skin, and he pulled his puffer jacket around him tighter. Jaehwan shivered beside him, teeth audibly clacking together. It was spring, but it still felt like the middle of winter.

“So, you’re hanging out with your friends again tonight?” Jaehwan asked, breaking the silence between them.

“Yeah,” Taemin answered, grinning. “Is that okay?”

Jaehwan nodded. “Totally!” he said, smiling widely, eyes crinkling upwards at the corners. “I’m glad you have more time now to do what you want to do, hyung!”

“Ah, what did I do to deserve such a precious brother?” Taemin asked, wrapping an arm around Jaehwan’s small shoulders, messing up the younger’s hair with his other hand. Jaehwan screeched loudly, the sound echoing through the night, pulling away after a few failed attempts.

“Not the hair!” he cried in distress, pulling out his phone to try and fix it.

 

XXX

 

When Taemin turned up at his hyung’s house later that night, he was immediately ushered inside by Jonghyun. “How have you been, Taem?”

Taemin felt himself blushing a little at the cute nickname. “Really good,” he answered honestly. “How are you?”

“Better now that you’re here,” Jonghyun replied unabashedly, and Taemin averted his eyes to the ground.

“Don’t say that,” he laughed a little awkwardly, but suddenly there was a warm hand cupping his jawline. Taemin looked back up, meeting Jonghyun’s eyes.

“I’m being serious. Why wouldn’t I admit the truth?” Jonghyun asked, and Taemin felt his heart flutter a little. _Don’t be stupid,_ the voice in his head told him. _He’s just being friendly._ Taemin tried to agree, but it felt forced - Jonghyun seemed genuine.

“Ah, our precious Taeminnie!” came Minho’s bellowing voice, and suddenly a pair of arms enveloped him from the back. Taemin jolted a little, but suddenly relaxed back into Minho.

Spending time with the four men over the past month was fun - they all got a lot closer, and Taemin felt like they were definitely good friends. He’d gotten used to his hyung’s teasing antics, but the amount of skinship was still something he was trying to get used to. It felt a little weird that kept hugging him or picking him up, like he was more than a friend - _which you never will be_ \- but he was slowing getting used to it. Being surprised or snuck up on was something he till hated, though.

“Minho hyung!” Taemin groaned, breath hitching a little when Minho’s arms discreetly squeezed him slightly tighter before finally letting go. “I told you not to sneak up on me,”

“I can’t help it, you’re too cute!”

Taemin just rolled his eyes, hiding his smile, before walking through to the main living room. He was quite familiar with their house now - after spending a week recovering in it, he’d walked around it a lot. A ‘house’ wasn’t quite the right words to describe it - it was a hell of a lot bigger than that. The wealthiness of it all was still something he was trying to get used to. Jinki had even offered to buy him and Jaehwan a whole house, but Taemin had firmly put his foot down at that. Their small apartment was plenty for the both of them. The plush couch though… now _that_  was something Taemin could get used to.

He all but collapsed onto it, sighing as his sore limbs sunk into the cushioning. “Long day?” Jinki asked, coming to sit down beside him.

Taemin smiled in greeting. “Long, but good,” he answered truthfully. Jinki laughed, dropping an arm around the younger’s shoulders. Kibum entered the living room last, looking like he’d just woken up. He had a sour look on his face, but brightened considerably once he saw Taemin. He sat on the other side of Taemin, resting his head on Taemin’s shoulder.

“I can’t say the same,” Kibum said, closing his eyes.

“You’ll have to excuse Kibummie,” Jonghyun piped up. “He’s been in a mood all day.”

“I’m better now that Taemin is here,” Kibum sneered at Jonghyun, and turned to Taemin with wide eyes. “You love me right, Taeminnie?”

Taemin coughed, caught off guard a little, but - _ah well, what can it hurt?_ “Of course, hyung,” he grinned.

Kibum smiled back at him. “Here that, guys? Taeminnie loves me the most~”

“Ah I didn’t say-”

“No fair!” Minho yelled, jumping on top of the three of them, while Jonghyun sulked from his perch on the edge of the couch. Taemin just laughed, exasperated.

And that was how it went.

 

XXX

 

“I can’t fucking believe this!”

Daeyeon flinched as his maker backhanded him across the face, the bones in his neck cracking due to the harsh whiplash. He exhaled heavily, eyes stuck to the ground.

“I had to kill you once to teach you a lesson, and now your idiot brother goes and gets himself locked up in that old bastard’s basement.”

A pair of dark boots entered the line of his vision, and he had a second to brace himself before one of them came upwards and kicked him in the jaw. Daeyeon flew backwards, head snapping up, and blood filled his mouth. Choking, he spat it out onto the ground, before sitting back up and holding his broken jaw with one hand.

“Tell me, Daeyeon-ah,” his maker strode towards him, one hand grabbing a fistful of Daeyeon’s hair, lifting him straight up off of the pavement so high that his feet couldn’t even touch the ground. “Why the fuck should I go and break Daejung out, hmm? Especially when it took you so fucking long to tell me?”

Daeyeon swallowed. “You hate Jinki, yeah?” he asked, to which his maker just sneered.

“Of course, Daeyeon, you fuckin’ moron. You weren’t born yesterday, were you?”

“What if I said there was a way to break him? A new way?”

“And what would this new way be, exactly?”

“They’ve claimed a human. A mate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on Twitter or Instagram~  
> twt https://twitter.com/emodreamer13  
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> 
> Or comment below! I'd love to chat with my readers xxx  
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**Author's Note:**

> twitter: emodreamer13  
> insta: em13.x  
> da: madlittlew0nderland  
> <3  
> come scream with me about how adorable vixx/shinee/bts are


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